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Rain poses challenge for farmers

Though a multitude of crops are grown in the river valley, heavy rain showers coupled with high winds bode well for some plants and bad for others, according to local farmers.

Flooded fields and atypical growing patterns are recurring problems this summer.

"It's been pretty good, but for the most part, it's been a challenge because of all the rain," said Tom Shirey, of Berried Treasures Farm Market.

With strawberries as his main cash crop, Shirey said the season had a strong start.

"To our surprise, we had one of the best crops we ever had as far as berry production," he said.

Despite news of bad berry growth in eastern Pennsylvania, Shirey said, "Ours did really well. They produced fruit. We were going to have a really good year and we did have a lot -- the first 10 days were real good and people were happy, getting lots of berries."

In his experience, the 72-year-old farmer said the crop is usually ripe for three weeks.

"I think it was on a Tuesday. It rained really hard that morning. We picked a couple of pots toward the end of the day," he said. "(We) went down Wednesday morning and it was just like they rotted overnight."

Shirey estimated about one-third of his strawberry fields were lost to the sudden decay.

"As a boy, I can remember -- up until the last couple of years -- you get one or two gully-washers a summer. Now we're getting two or three a week," he said, referring to heavy rainfall.

The peppers and tomatoes had a slow start, but Shirey said the drier weather has increased the grow-rate recently. The late-grow of corn, however, was planted in saturated soil and a large portion of it is rotting, he said, adding his 18-acre field luckily will still have some good growing space for corn.

"That's just farming," he said. "You just take what comes your way and not worry about it because you can't do anything about it. Just do what you can do and hope for the best."

Dan Tebbs, of Tebbs Farms and Greenhouses, echoed Shirey's resolve and his difficulties with corn.

A wet end of 2018, which made harvesting hard, continued into 2019 with a hard planting, said Tebbs.

"It never dried up, and then it flooded," he said. "It was just too wet. We had to leave it in some areas and then in other areas, we planted and it probably wasn't exactly perfect."

This year, farmers had to make the best of what they could and hope their crop would struggle their way into producing fruit.

"You never know when you're dealing with Mother Nature," said Tebbs. "We just have to do everything that we can to try to take advantage of what it brings us. So we're hoping that it doesn't stop raining completely, but it'd be nice to get a moderate amount and not get it by inches."

Many farmers are dealing with crops in different growing stages, said Anne Busch, agronomy educator with 4-H. Those farmers who had land in low-lying areas or near the river especially had difficulties finding a dry time to plant.

"It seemed wet for a long time," she said. "I know some farmers who weren't able to plant until into June."

Insurance companies are dealing with more claims of crop loss due to unplantable terrain, said Busch.

Farmers unable to plant with enough time to sell or use their product may file claims.

"I think it very much depends on where you are," she said. "There's areas where it's wetter than others."

Some farmers even had to switch what they were planting from what they initially planned.

For the rest of the year, Busch too said she hopes it's able to stay dry enough for farmers to harvest their crop.

Dick Snyder, of Snyder Farms, which operates in conjunction with Snyder's Country Pet Food, said he has certainly had to file crop loss claims, but moreso last year, where August flooding washed out some of his soybean crop. Insurance companies only pay about half of what the crop would originally be worth, "but it keeps you afloat," he said.

In all, he grows wheat, tomatoes, soybeans, sweet and feed corn,

"The amount of rain we have had has had an effect on things (this year)," he said, specifically it affected the size and amount of wheat he had expected to harvest.

For the apple, peach, nectarine and cherry orchards in our area, John Marshalek, of Marshalek's Fruit Farm, said he had a rough start.

"It's working out fairly well but it was really challenging," he said. "You really had to stay on top of your farmicide applications to keep the crop clean."

When the rainy weather sets in, the chance of disease for tree growing fruit raises severely. To make matters worse, the rain easily washes off the sprays used to keep the fruit healthy.

The past couple of years Marshalek said he's had a high yield.

"This year is going to be better than I thought it was," he said. "Initially it was a very questionable year with a short bloom period conditions were not great during pollination."

As things have dried out, his trees are looking better than ever, but local farmers, more than ever, need public support.

"It's really huge to us and any other growers," said Marshalek. "It's critical to our success."