Local Farmers Expecting Strong Crops Later Than Usual

Connecticut farmers, like those across the nation, are constantly at the mercy of Mother Nature. 

This year, the state was hit with an abundance of snow during the winter months and a large helping of rain and cool temperatures during the spring. The only negative effect for local farms, , will be later-than-usual crops. Last year, due to the dry, hot conditions, crops came up earlier than usual.

Richard Gotta, of Gotta’s Farm in Portland, says he is waiting patiently for “normal” weather sometime soon.

“Optimally, we would like to have sun during the day and rain at night while we are sleeping. Those would be the best conditions for all our crops,” he said.

Gotta said he expects his strawberries to be ready for picking 10 days to two weeks later than last year, sometime around June 10.

Gotta added that due to the extra-wet conditions, there will be a gap in the fresh sweet corn crops this summer because they were not able to plant on a regular basis this spring, the way would have liked to.

According to John Lyman, of Lyman Orchards in Middlefield, the snow, although unpleasant at times, was actually very beneficial to the plants, protecting them from extra cold temperatures. In addition, the wet spring will most likely yield a crop of larger strawberries this year in comparison to last year’s early small-sized crop.

“Ideally, what we need now is several days of sun to sugar the fruit and produce the necessary carbohydrates,” Lyman said. “Sometimes the berries are small but very sweet like last year, because it was hot and dry."

Other times, he says, the berries are larger. If the berries don’t get the sun they need, they won’t be as sweet. With the forecast calling for some sun, Lyman thinks it will be a very good strawberry crop this year.

Due to a grub problem last year, Lyman's will not have pick-your-own strawberries available this year. However, he will be purchasing berries from local farms for the store.  This year, Lyman’s first pick-your-own crop will be the June raspberries, then onto the July blueberries.

Rose’s in Glastonbury is expecting a “much, much” better crop of strawberries this year, with bigger, juicer fruit thanks to the extreme weather.

“All this rain is very good for the fruit, not so great for some of the produce, but all the berries this year should be great,” said Winnie Contreras of Rose’s.

Most of the farmers agree that at this point, the rest of the crops this year should catch up and get back on track as long as the weather conditions are “normal.”

“Now we are just concerned about the selling-season weather,” explains Henry Talmage, executive director of the Connecticut Farm Bureau.

“The weather during the harvest season is just as important as the weather during the growing season in order to ensure the on-farm sales.”

Talmage, who praises the recent resurgence of interest in local foods and support of local farmers, added, “all the pieces need to work together or it is a challenge for the farmers.”

For more information about pick your own times and schedules at these local farms, www.gottasfarm.com, www.lymanorchards.com, or www.rosesberryfarm.com.