For an industry that is highly dependent on the weather throughout the year, every year, this one has been uncommonly difficult.
“Most of us farming today don’t remember a year like this – not quite this dry,” NY Farm Bureau District 3 Director John Sorbello said. “It depends on where you are, but for us in Wayne County, we just did not seem to catch a lot of rains. Even when they’d get a little rain south of Route 20 or whatever, it just didn’t seem to hit us up in this area.”
The lack of rain this summer was severe enough for the state to issue a drought warning for Western New York on August 3. Along with the low levels of rainfall, it has also been abnormally hot this summer.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this July surpassed July 2015 as the hottest month on record for the globe and became the 15th-consecutive month to break the monthly heat record.
Despite the rising average temperatures, Sorbello is not concerned that these drought conditions will become a trend. Along with the dry summer, the area is coming off of a winter where there was less snow than normal, leading to depleted groundwater.
“To me, it’s very doubtful, I think it was just an extreme drought year,” Sorbello said. “We’ll probably get some snow this year to replenish the groundwater, and it will come back.
“A year ago, we were crying the blues because everything was so darn wet. We couldn’t get in our fields because it was so wet, and some of the apple guys were having trouble because their apples were too big.”
This year, though, farmers expect to see smaller sizes and lower yields in everything from apples to pumpkins.
John Crane of John Crane Farm in Huron said that the smaller apples wouldn’t be worth as much on the fresh fruit market.
“That can be a real issue, especially with the retail marketers because they might want an 8-pack bag of apples, and they have a certain size in mind,” Sorbello added. “If they don’t make that size, now you’ve got to have more apples in there.”
While some farmers can overcome some of the dry conditions by irrigating their crops, not all of them have the equipment to do so, which can be costly.
Crane is currently moving towards being able to irrigate. “Next year, I hope to be able to,” he said. “I’m just getting the equipment right now.”
Duane Crandon runs a split-operation farm in Lyons with his son, which means they grow both organic and conventional crops. According to him, they were hit with some severe storms in June which helped carry them through the summer, but their crops still suffered.
“The organic crops were stressed more than our conventional crops,” Crandon noted. “They’re competing for moisture just like the other crops, so if you have any weeds, they’re going to get nutrients and moisture also.”
Sorbello added that since both commodity prices are and yields on grains this year are going to be low, that it’s becoming quite scary. Along with that, he said that dairy farmers have been struggling with low milk prices, and if they have to purchase feed, it could “hit them pretty hard.”
“It is going to certainly be a challenging year,” he acknowledged. “Not that we haven’t seen challenges before though.”
The rains fell sporadically around the County. A farm less that a quarter mile away was doused with a quick spirt of rain, while a neighboring farm was left high and dry.
According to Macedon farmer, Bill Hammond, his best description of the field corn crop in “Poor”. “They are small ears and the tips aren’t filled,” said Hammond. He said it is hard to predict a yield. “I have no idea. It has been so variable and the corn (due to the lack of rain) didn’t pollinate well. It will be a difficult year.”
The middle to late August rains were welcomed on the Hammond Brother’s Farm for the acres of soybeans. “It should be a fair crop,” commented Bill.
In the Lyons’ area, one of the largest acreage of corn and soybeans is worked by Brian Manktelow. “I’m guessing we’re looking at between a 30-35% loss right now on corn. We won’t be sure until we get into it (the harvest), “ said Brian.
Manktelow’s short season soybeans were not hit as bad. He expects no more than a 30% drop in yield compared to other years. “It will be a tough year,” he added.
Then, there are the pumpkins. According to Sue Airy, her Macedon small pumpkin crop never materialized. She finally plowed the crop under.
Doug Allen of Long Acres Farm on Eddy Road in Macedon said the lack of water translates to smaller pumpkins. “The crop isn’t going to be as good.” He also commented on the randomness of rain as it fell on the back of his main shop last week, but not in a nearby field.
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