Business & Tech

South Jersey Farmers Feel the Heat of Dry Weather

Local farmers take losses, but still manage to produce in this hot dry summer.

A dry spell may be putting it lightly when it comes to South Jersey‘s summer weather. The sizzling days are oppressive for all, but farmers watching their crops wither away especially feel the heat.

Farmers face a one-two punch this year. A mild winter with little snow means they already started out at a disadvantage. Most farmers rely on melting snow to keep the soil moist and rich for the upcoming season. The lack of snowfall can create poor soil conditions exacerbated by the dry summer.

Even with the recent thunderstorm that struck South Jersey just days ago, Bill and Mary Ellen DeHart of DeHarts Farm in West Deptford say their land is suffering from the lack of moisture. They already lost two fields worth of corn—the crop they’re famous for—from poor soil conditions.

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Fortunately, Bill DeHart says, the farm still has cornfields that will be harvested shortly. 

Mary Ellen DeHart points to her tomatoes that are sun burnt and cracked on the top. Inside, they are cooked from the heat. 

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Still, Bill DeHart believes a hot dry summer is better than a stormy one. He had to close his produce stand a month early last year because of Hurricane Irene. Another summer, hailstones pierced a large potion of his crops, leaving them unsellable.

“My daddy use to say, ‘Dry weather will scare you, but wet weather will kill you,’” Bill DeHart says. The DeHarts use pipeline irrigation, which forces their tractors to run for about two hours every day—breaking into harvesting time.     

The DeHarts should plan on their tractors working overtime for the foreseeable future.

Both Gloucester and Camden counties are categorized under the USDA Drought Monitor as “abnormally dry,” but could soon be upgraded to “moderate drought” if conditions do not improve. According to the current USDA Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin, most of South Jersey is under a roughly 2-inch of rainfall deficit from average. 

“This summer is tending to be a little drier,” says Mitchell Gaines, a meteorologist at the Mt. Holly branch of the National Weather Service

A single heavy rainfall won’t turn the tide.

“It would have be an above normal rainfall on a consistent basis,” Gaines explains on what it would take to get Gloucester and Camden counties back into the black with rainfall. 

Protecting peaches, pumpkins and prices

Anthony Yula of Gloucester County’s Summit City Farms says his peach crop is faring well in the drought, but at the expense of the irrigation system running day and night. Peach trees need a good amount of water, especially several weeks before harvest. If a peach tree is drought stressed, they can produce smaller fruit or not ripen on time, rendering the fruit unmarketable.  

“The rain has been spotty, but fortunately we’re spread out,” says Yula, adding that when rain comes, it sometimes does not hit all farms.  

Thanks to Summit City’s drip irrigation system, they are combating the weather one peach tree at a time, but that’s not always good enough.

“Irrigation is not the same as natural rain,” says Yula. 

Although many fall crops, such as broccoli, are stunted from drought stress, the DeHarts’ pumpkins are still looking good. Since they were planted later, they have not felt the effects of the dry weather like the other produce. Bill DeHart believes the unintentional late planting may lead to a good pumpkin crop this fall.

And while some may think the dry weather will lead to higher produce prices in South Jersey, Yula explains that the price of crops does not change from year to year depending on what kind of money a farm sinks into them. The market drives the prices, and its reach expands outside of the Garden State. For example, if New Jersey produces minimal peaches one summer, but California produces record amounts, the retail price of the fruit will not rise.

“For you to make money, someone else has to hurt,” says Bill DeHart, regretfully. 


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