We are well into fall of 2023, but already contemplating the winter and spring of 2024 with greenhouse supplies piling up. The weather which was so detrimental to this kind of operation this past summer switched gears and became quite pleasant and reasonably dry in early September. It has remained seasonably temperate, so fall harvest is possible without working in rain gear and being miserably wet and cold. Despite the farmstands closure earlier in the month, we are still very busy with a full field crew harvesting sweet potatoes, beets , carrots and other sundry root crops. This year George and Shadow Steve have been a full time building and grounds maintenance team, and some of the sagging boards and structures have been shorn up and repurposed. Its always nice when a door actually opens and shuts without two men and a machine! The raining and summer floods didn’t help in their reparation efforts or Rays ability to work in the fields and produce crops. Nonetheless, we fared much better than most of our colleagues and we all are happy to have it become a fading memory and good story. Most orchardists in New England had diminished or no crops for the 2023 season. Animal feed (hay, silage, corn) is in very short supply in New England and reflected in the climbing costs of commercially produced feeds. Plant nurseries experienced diminished sales because the non stop rains of July and August hindered landscapers ability to work. Every facet of agriculture took some level of a pummeling. Here at Edgewater in addition to crop failures there was expense and repair from the violent storms: falling trees, damaged houses, one of the employees cars hit and collapsed a 2 bay 2 story garage.
Ok. That will be enough, thank you.
The question now most farmers are asking themselves is this: How do we farm in the future?
We just underwent a summer where we got around 30 inches of rain in a couple of months. That is like getting 75% of your annual rainfall in 15% of the year. This follows the season of 2022 in which we had one of our worst droughts in farm history. If you tell a farmer he will be growing in a swamp, he can work on it and prepare for it. Tell that same farmer the season is going to be hot and desert like, he will improvise. But with no crystal ball into the meteorological future what the hell is he supposed to do? (note: Please raise your hand if you would bet your income on even a 5 day forecast…. I rest my case.)
Some of us farmers whom have been at it a while (we landed at Edgewater 49 years ago) can take some financial punches as a result of extreme weather. But young farmers whom are trying to make their way forward have not had time enough to develop the resources that can withstand that same punch. We know of younger couples that in the face of this season are considering locking the door on their farm and getting the job driving the UPS truck….where the financial future looks a bit more guaranteed and brighter. Our government is beginning to realize that farmers could be an endangered species with climate change, and young folks whom are not connected to farms by legacy will be discouraged to get into a business with this level of challenges. This is worrisome, and we should be concerned.
We here at our farm have considered what our options are. We are trying to think of how we go forward. We have the greatest success with crops grown in high tunnels, mainly because of the protection they afford the crops. Where 10 years ago we had two or three houses of greenhouse and a house or two of early cucumbers, Ray now crops 18 greenhouses of vegetables from tomatoes to ginger and celery. Some of these 18 houses get double cropped with vegetables. He can dependably harvest a better crop with a guarantee of better flavor and quality, but with a pipe and poly structure there is definitely more input cost. Is this sustainable? At the moment, it seems to be…but it contributes to the end cost to the consumer.
Terminating a cover crop of field peas and oats in preparation for crop of winter rye
The other aspect of climate change is the growing importance of how we approach the care of our soils. (Yes, we are proudly ‘dirt” farmers…” ) Water is the single most important element to have growing plants. (note: without irrigation available last year we harvested 25% of our potato crop…a serious loss taken…) But water this year was way too much of a good thing, in fact a bad thing. Excess moisture leaches out plant nutrients in the soil. The heavy rains can erode and wash away soil. Heavy rains can pound and compact soils so that roots don’t get oxygen. Diseases spread easily in heavily saturated soils killing plants.
America has been blessed with great soils. But it was a resource that was (and still is) taken for granted. You should read up a bit on the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. When I was in college, soil was treated as an inert medium to which you just added the right chemistry to produce food. That conventional way of looking at soil has changed dramatically in 50 years. The fathers of Organic Farming -Albrecht, J. I, Rodale and our own generational gurus like Eliot Coleman- felt the “old ways” served the soil. The organic mantra has always been “Feed the soil”. I read some books by an author named Lous Broomfield and became a believer in his views on cover cropping. Today the universities espouse cover cropping strategies and reduced tillage (I wont go into that one because I already feel your eyes glazing over) to not only protect the structure of the soil but to recognize and help the complex biodiversity that lives within the soil. Insects, bacteria and chemistry all work better with organic matter. Organic matter contributes to better soil structure, moisture and nutrient retention. There is a lot of living organisms and things going on under our feet that we need to recognize and foster as farmers. Cover cropping helps us recognize and support that.
There were many high points for us this summer. Mostly we recognized and were very grateful that things were not worse. Yes, it was difficult, but so many other of our colleagues had it so much worse. We were very lucky, this time. This year we had the same potato acreage again on a droughty well drained soil and the availability of water yielded us a bountiful potato crop. Despite a loss of 2 acres of onions (sadly, they looked so good in early June ) our carrots are robust. We were able to harvest most of the strawberries before the flooding hit, and our fall raspberries are still chugging along as of this October 21st writing. Greenhouse tomatoes and even some of the field tomatoes turned out well. Despite the excess moisture and lack of sunlight, melons did pretty well, at least better than I ever would have expected. Sweet corn had great flavor , even the corn we finished harvesting 2 days ago. Unfortunately the crop that performed really, really well this year and had its way with us were the weeds….but we’ll crush ‘em next year when they show up again.
We had a good crew again this year. Great ladies at the farmstand and the kitchen, and greenhouses and our rock steady aging-in-place field crew toughed it out in the pounding rains harvesting and planting. The sign of a good year and good crew is when there is an absence of drama and a prevalence of a “ok, lets put the gear on and get it done” attitude. Many years ago I found myself picking a strawberry wholesale order with Roy. It was pouring, and we found ourselves kneeling in water trying to pick fruit. When Roy chuckled and commented “It’s a bit moist today, Pooh…” I knew I had found a brother in arms. And that, in a nutshell, was the crew this year, and those moments are the good stuff…
