In recent weeks at the Dane County Farmers' Market, the topic of Wisconsin's ongoing drought has been top of mind of both vendors and buyers.
This past weeks rain was a welcome sign to farmers in southern Wisconsin coming off what was on of the longest periods of drought in recent memory. Fox 47 caught up with several vendors to hear how their coping.
Scott Alsum, a sweet corn farmer from Randolph says his first crop this summer produced smaller than normal ears of corn. Even so, demand was high with hundreds of ears flying off his stand.
"The shorter maturity makes smaller ears. It's still sweet and everything but you need a little more growing time to get bigger ears," Alsum said.
He said the unseasonably dry conditions this year have not helped to produce what he is used to seeing come from his fields this time of year. Many fellow farmers Alsum speaks with have told him they've been feeling the added stress brought on after what was a wet spring.
"We're already getting calls from people saying hey, my growers crop is a failure can I get corn from you? So, I think demand is going to go up as the season goes along," Alsum said.
Alsum is of course not alone.
"If you don't know how to adapt you're not going to survive," remarked Whitewater farmer Josiah Harder.
He said the dry conditions have forced him to change the way he farms. This year he installed in a new irrigation system to avoid producing dead beets, cauliflower and cucumbers.
"We had to invest this year because of just no rain especially coming into July, you know we really look for a lot of rain through June and we just have not gotten the inches that we needed," Harder said.
The last time the farmers had to deal with abnormally dry fields was in 2012. Longtime Dane County Farmers' Market participant, Ted Ballweg says this year is comparable to 2012, but nowhere near the worst thanks to advancements made in farming like irrigation systems.
Source: fox47.com
Photo Credit: science-photo-library-igor-stevanovic
Categories: Wisconsin, General