CLEVELAND — For more than 20 days, Northeast Ohio has been without rain, leaving many farmers concerned about their crops. However, after a rainy weekend, things may be turning around.
Ty Higgins, a spokesperson with the Ohio Farm Bureau, said there are about 75,000 farm families in the state. He said he spoke with many about the rain, with farmers expressing relief over the wet weather.
“We saw dry conditions over the past three or four weeks, and things were getting pretty dicey in farm country with corn and soybeans. We saw the condition of the crop deteriorate pretty rapidly,” Higgins said. “So this shot of rain came just as the right time, and there are a lot of smiling farmers across Ohio right now.”
Higgins said this water will help newly planted and young crops whose seeds may still need to germinate or who needed the water to rise out of the soil. He also said the rain will help crops further along in their growing cycles to “green up” and look less withered.
Higgins said it’s unusual to experience a dry spell like this early in the season, rather than in the heat of the late summer months. While it had its negative impacts, Higgins said it also came with some positives.
“We got planting done in almost record time across Ohio,” he said. “Mother Nature gave us a huge window of opportunity with those dry conditions to be able to get the crop planted. After a wet April and early May, farmers really got the ball rolling as far as planting progress goes with this dry stretch we saw.”
On Monday, there was no public berry picking at Patterson Fruit Farm, but Dave Patterson told 3News that they got about 1.8 inches of rain, which was absorbed well into the soil. Patterson said they could certainly use the rain after the dry weather, and due to the wind and rain, wanted to rest the fields to reopen on Tuesday.
At Ohio City Farm overlooking the downtown Cleveland skyline, the rain was also welcome. The farm is a social enterprise farm, operated by nonprofit Refugee Response, and employing former refugees. Lar Doe is a site manager, and said without the rain, they encounter more bug and pest problems, and notice slower growth in their crops.
“We see a lot of difference, like you have more bugs coming out, and you notice all the vegetables here started growing slower, turning to yellow,” he said.
Ohio City Farm donates vegetables, sells to restaurants, and also participates in a Community Supported Agriculture program, in which people essentially buy a subscription and receive fresh produce seasonally. The program was supposed to start for the season last week, but because some crops were not ready to be harvested, it was pushed back one week. The CSA program is full for the summer, but there is still availability for the fall season.
“When we get a big rainfall, everything absolutely explodes and grows,” said Rachel Ramos, sales and marketing coordinator at Ohio City Farm. “Things really take off, it starts to look really green around here, and that’s huge for our season starting this week.”
