Rainfall dampens local farming business

Rain, cool temperatures take toll on agricultural production.

By: Cynthia Koons
   "When it’s dry, farmers worry to death. When it’s wet, they starve to death."
— Farming Proverb
   
June 21, the summer solstice — the longest day of sunlight in the year — is fast approaching.
   Yet the combination of rainfall, cloud cover and unseasonably cool weather the past two months has area farmers wondering if and when the summer will begin.
   "I don’t like to wish rain away," said Doug Tindall, Washington Township mayor and farmer. "A farmer’s best friend is rain, it’s just too much of a good thing."
   On Mr. Tindall’s farm, a family-owned corn and soybean operation in West Windsor, puddles are drowning out sprouting buds and cloudiness is preventing corn from growing to full size.
   "The one thing about grain is you plant a lot of acres," he said. "The land has to be dry enough for the equipment."
   The excessive moisture in the land also has promoted the growth of the weeds that hinder the growth of his corn crop.
   "Herbicides don’t work without the sun," Mr. Tindall said. "The weeds still keep growing even though it’s wet."
   On Tindall Farm, fields of soybeans and the entirety of his corn crop have been planted. Yet the crop growth is scanty, at best.
   "These beans were planted two weeks ago. Normally they’d come up in five days," he said, in reference to his farm’s frontage, which is lined with tiny bean sprouts. "This should be covered with beans. You only see some here and there."
   He planted his corn before the rainy spring began. Now, the lack of sun and dry ground has his corn crop at an unusually small size and color.
   "The corn that is planted without the sun, (it) turns yellowish," he said. "It’s only about one-third of the height it would be.
   "Each one of those little plants out there is my child," he said. "When they’re not feeling well, I get worried."
   His corn crop will not be harvested until late September. The corn is sold as feed to companies like Purdue Farms, which use it to feed chicken and other livestock.
   Another animal feed, hay, is grown and sold locally to area horse farms. The wet weather is making it difficult for hay farmers to harvest their dry crop.
   "It’s normally the harvest time for hay and we need dry weather for hay," farmer Bob Freiberger of Freiberger Farms in Upper Freehold said. "We’re waiting it out basically."
   He said a normal yield is 20 to 30 acres per day. This spring, he’s been able to cut down 4 to 5 acres at a time.
   "If it gets rained on too much it’s a loss," he said. This spring, he’s harvested about 3,000 bales (with one bale equating to 50 pounds) of hay.
   "By this time of year we should have 20,000 to 30,000 bales in the barn," he said. "We’re way behind."
   His hay is sold to horse farms in Monmouth County, which has the highest concentration of horse farms in any county in the nation, he said.
   "Some of the dealers have shipped in hay from Canada, Montana, Idaho and Washington State," Mr. Freiberger said. "That gets very expensive. They ship a little bit of hay in here year round. I think now they’re shipping a little bit more."
   This reliance on out-of-state goods trickles down the economic spectrum.
   "It doesn’t just affect me as a farmer who’s growing a crop, it affects those who buy from me," Mr. Tindall said. "They may have to raise their prices and it effects the consumer."
   Mr. Freiberger said his farm is already losing profits from the small hay harvest. He said a sunny spell could reverse the wet spring’s effects, but there’s no guarantee that will ensure a full turnaround.
   "If we would get nice, sunny days for the next couple of weeks, there’s still time to get that hay harvested," he said.
   "The other side effect of the wet, cold spring is that the hay crop is not mature yet," he said. "It’s like any vegetable crop that you eat on your table. If you harvest it at any time when it’s a nice, young tender plant, it’s tasty. That’s the same thing with hay. If you harvest it at the proper time it’s tasty to the horses."
   Timing is integral to farming. Mr. Tindall said with a few sunny weeks he would be able to retrieve a normal yield of his crop, but after the rainy May and June his chances for a bumper yield are ruined.
   "The worry is that we’re getting late now," he said. This anxiety is shared among the neighboring farmers whom he consults with regularly.
   "We’ve gone from fire to flood," he said.
   Last year’s severe drought left many New Jersey farmers eligible for federal disaster funds after June, July and August of 2002 brought little to no rain. Mercer and Monmouth counties, along with 17 other central and southern New Jersey counties, were declared agricultural natural disaster areas
   Mr. Tindall was one of many farmers who suffered from last year’s drought. Because grain and hay farms do not normally irrigate, the dry weather destroyed much of his yield.
   "I had crop insurance," which was partially subsidized by the government, he said. Last year’s yield was 30 percent of what it would have been in a good year on his farm, he said.
   When asked if he anticipates using crop insurance this year, he said, "It’s getting to look that way."
   Mr. Freiberger said he’s keeping his hopes up that the precipitation levels will even out.
   "To be a farmer you have to be optimistic all the time no matter what set back you have," he said. "You have to take it in stride and keep going."
   Yet he and Mr. Tindall both agree that the rainfall in May and June has reached a level of undocumented excess.
   "I’ve farmed all my life and I’ve seen different rainy spells where it’s been very wet and we’ve had excess rainfall. But I’ve never seen it go on and on and on like it did this year," Mr. Freiberger said. "I’ve talked to some older farmers who are like 80 years old and they’ve never seen it like this."
   Mr. Tindall said in his farming history, he’s never seen a spring this wet either.
   "I’ve been a farmer 30 years and there’s been one other year that wasn’t even this bad. This is by far the worst," he said. "I’m at God’s mercy."