New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
‘Everything got set back’
Drought hurts New Haven-area farmers while experts warn of future extremes
NEW HAVEN — Keith Vignola, owner of Vignola’s Farm in Hamden, said he’s losing more than $200 a day because he simply doesn’t have enough crops to sell each day due to lack of rain.
“We lost a couple thousands of dollars between the plants and the fertilizer for trying to save the plants and everything too,” Vignola said.
Given his experience running the farm, he said this year’s drought is the worst he has seen in two decades. He lost a tomato field and saw an increased cost of water supply. Plus, the stream flow levels at his farm dropped dramatically from two feet to only six inches.
“Everything got set back,” Vignola said.
Dry and hot weather this year have hurt local farmers and nonfarmers alike, in respect to rising labor costs, additional expenses for irrigation and inflated prices for consumers.
Experts said drought and heat waves are reflective of a larger change in climate, warning the public to prepare to adapt to a potential food system disruption.
The National Integrated Drought Information System has classified all of New Haven county’s conditions as “severe drought.” Some parts of the state, including the southeastern portion of New London county, have been labeled as “extreme drought,” prompting officials to issue mandatory water conservation measures.
The lack of rain led to less crops at local farms. Liz Hindinger of Hindinger Farm in Hamden said her farm has been struggling with fulfilling communitysupported agriculture, known as CSA, commitment.
“Normally, we pick 20-30 boxes of
shell beans,” Hindinger said. “And, we picked like 10, so we couldn't put it in our CSA that week.”
For a number of reasons such as labor costs and supplement purchases for lost crops, Hindinger said it translated into more expensive produce for her customers — “not crazy, but we definitely had to.”
However, Hindinger said the farm has pumpkins and apples ready, which means its October's fall festival is all set as planned without a disruption.
At Massaro Community Farm in Woodbridge, staff is still able to stick to its goal to donate at least 10% of the crops throughout the year to local food banks, farm Executive Director Caty Poole said.
While the quantity of crops has remained at the same level, the farm saw a lack of diversity of produce they could grow.
“We have to choose things that are going to get priority for water, so that's a little bit of triage,” said Steve Munno, farm manager.
Crops Massaro Farm focused on this summer included tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini, beets, carrots, lettuce and other cooking greens. Munno said some types of plants have been skipped or delayed.
Heading into the fall and winter, Munno said residents should expect to see a price hike because he foresees that farms and businesses will bring in produce from out-of-state to fill the gap from less locally grown produce.
Massaro Farm also experienced added costs, not from lack of sales but from seeds that didn't germinate and labor costs, especially in watering, in which the farm mainly relies on an irrigation system.
“Watering for me has started first thing in the morning, 6-7 a.m.,” he said. “I'm doing it late into the evening as well, so it's been significantly longer days for me throughout the season.”
The heat waves also had effects on productivity of farm workers. Connecticut experienced weeks in July and August with temperatures in the mid-90s to low to mid 100s and humid conditions — something Munno said stood out as more extreme compared to previous years than drought.
“We have to be extra mindful of everyone's wellbeing, so that's kind of number one,” Munno said. “We're going to be a little bit less productive, need to be careful about ourselves in the heat and in the sun.”
The dry weather this year stands in contrast with last summer when there were four tropical storms in July and August — Elsa, Fred, Thompson and Henri — that brought many inches of rain in a 24- to 48-hour period and caused flash floods.
Miriah Kelly, assistant professor of environmental science at Southern Connecticut State University, said the extreme conditions between the years left agricultural jobs more difficult — as farmers had to go from managing their crops in heavy rain to going through drought conditions.
“That has implications on the infrastructure, the types of crops, the placement of crops, the viability of crops, the timing of crops, without being able to really plan and anticipate for these extremes,” Kelly said.
Rachel Dowty Beech, University of New Haven's emergency management program coordinator, said there are several ways farmers can prepare for future drought, as this year's dryness has indicated that it would be a larger, longer trend — and is a part of larger change in climate.
The ways and the timing farmers water their crops correlate to the amount of water they would lose to evaporation, she said.
“Some farmers water with a sprinkler system, which loses a lot of the water to evaporation, rather than putting the water in at ground level, which would lose less water to evaporation,” Dowty Beech said. “If farmers leave watering towards evening, night and early morning, less water will be lost to evaporation.”
Types of crops that are grown and the soil conditions need to be taken into consideration as well — crops that are heavily dependent on water should be planted near the primary water source, she said, so plants that can deal better with drought can be further away.
“It would be prudent to diversify, rather than rely on just a monoculture of one type of crop,” Dowty Beech said.
While compounding impacts from climate change on farmers “is becoming very real,” Kelly said, nonfarmers should also be concerned because their entire food system is reliant on the farmers.
Going forward with more extreme conditions expected, Kelly said access to the types of products and produce that people are accustomed to might become more limited.
“It's important for people to start realizing that we can start to adapt now, given what we know about the expected changes, so that we're not shocked later when you know these changes are abroad,” she said.
To help the farming community going through times like this, Vignola said the government should offer grants so that he and other farmers can better start off in the next season.
Farmers in New London, Windham, Hartford, Middlesex and Tolland counties can now apply for federal Economic Injury Disaster Loans, as the U.S. Small Business Administration announced last Tuesday. The program became available after the U.S. Department of Agriculture designated New London and Windham Counties as “primary natural disaster areas” due to drought.
In line with Dowty Beech's suggestions, she said the government could enact policies that encourage farmers to grow diverse crops and provide subsidies for certain produce.
Massaro Farm's Munno said while short-term financial assistance can be helpful, the state and local governments should focus on the bigger picture of what efforts can be made to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
“This won't be rare,” Munno said. “That's what's going to make the difference going forward, so that farms are able to stay in operation and make the changes they need to keep feeding the public.”