NEW YORK STATE — On a recent warm summer morning, Jason Turek drove his pickup around the fields to see if the early July rains invited more weeds or pests on his sweet corn, cabbage and summer squash in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. Later that day, the partner at Turek Farms, King Ferry, marked spots to place extra beehives for pollinating the pumpkins and hard squash. Meanwhile, staff paved some areas in the packing plant and installed a cooling system.
Even though 2020 was a great year for selling crops to retailers, many of New York’s growers are playing it safe by not planting too much more for the 2021 season.
Turek said they planted less than normal in spring 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Northeast, plus they had a dry season, so volume was down about 20%, when demand was unexpectedly high. This year, the plan is to plant for old-normal volumes. “Our planting is almost identical to five years ago. We grow what we can sell. It’s so expensive to put in a crop in right now, you can’t risk being wrong on the marketing end,” Turek said. Turek also grows broccoli, Brussels sprouts and a few other items. By mid-July they’ll harvest cabbage and summer squash, and sweet corn will probably be a week after that.
In western New York, Torrey Farms, Elba, is also holding steady with acreage. “We did not increase acreage on anything,” said Shannon Kyle, who handles sales and marketing and is part of the 12th generation working at the family-run company. “We were conservative, if anything, because of what’s going on with packaging and transportation and labor.”
Family-run Reeves Farms, Baldwinsville, increased vegetable acres by about 5%, slowly as the market demands, said Brian Reeves, partner. “I don’t know anyone planning big expansions,” said Reeves, also president of the New York State Vegetable Growers Association.
Weather
While the northern part of the state —populated by mostly dairy farms — has been very dry for spring, eastern New York has been a little wetter while the central and western parts of the state have been a tad dry with slightly above-average heat, Reeves said. “We were having a warmer-than-average March while New Jersey was having a little cooler March, and sometimes timing like that can affect markets and cause friction. Sometimes those markets can be a bloodbath. But prices are average so far,” Reeves said.
June was hot and wet in the central region. Western and central New York crops are a couple of days ahead compared to 2020, with sweet corn picking to start about July 10. Summer squash started June 16 in Central New York, and many years, it’s June 20, Reeves said. Cucumber harvest often starts June 30 or July 1, and this year it was June 27. “So, just a couple days earlier in general because of the heat,” he said.
The recent occasional rains of late June and early July allowed a day or two each week for planting, and with increasing temperatures since mid-May, it’s balanced out the later plantings in spring in the Finger Lakes region.
“We kinda had a slow start for spring,” Turek said. “Early April was warm and dry, and then it turned cold and wet really until about the 13th of May, so anything we planted end of April was not the best looking, but everything after that May 13 period looked pretty nice.”
Now, the region around Turek Farms is getting timely rains and heat. The 2020 spring season weather caused late plantings in the Finger Lakes region, but this year, the rains don’t seem to be gentle.
“We get an inch in 30 minutes, and then the sun is back out again. We’d prefer it to be gentle, so there’s no erosion,” Turek said.
June was the second warmest in history and the 10th wettest, for Turek’s area of upstate New York.
In western New York, March was warm and May was cool, which means harvest start times pretty much all averaged out, said Kyle of Torrey Farms. Overall, spring was dry in Torrey Farms’ five-county growing region, but early July has brought some welcome rain.
By the week of July 12, Torrey Farms will ship its first green beans, zucchini and yellow squash, and by July 16-17, there will be some cucumbers and cabbage, she said. Harvesting cabbage continues into November, and some of it will go into storage, possibly into December. “We can ship that through May, but last year it was until February because of the market,” Kyle said. Besides the storage crop, the new crop of onions planted in April should be available starting the last week of July or first week of August and continue into October. Of course, these shipping dates all depend on the weather for the rest of July.
Way out east on the North Fork of Long Island, Satur Farms has enjoyed great weather in Cutchogue. Cold storage and shipping facilities are nearby in Calverton. “Yields have been where we like to see them,” said Paulette Satur, founder and CEO. “This will change as the summer heat builds but then should reverse to another upward trajectory once the humidity clears heading into fall…. Being surrounded by the sea, we’re fortunate to have such an extended growing season on the North Fork.”
Satur Farms is planting the same mix and varieties of leafy greens as usual, and the volume, size and quality is on par with past seasons, she said. “But, given the lack of and high cost of labor for hand work, [we planted] less of the specialty veg crops that need bunching,” Satur said.
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Satur Farms started harvesting earlier this year compared to 2020, bringing in overwintered arugula on April 14, while the newly seeded baby leaf crops began in earnest April 28.
It’s pretty early for onions in the lower Hudson Valley region, but everything is looking good so far, said Dylan Dembeck, director of operations at Minkus Family Farms, New Hampton. “We are on track for a typical crop, but that can change as we get into these summer months, but everything looks pretty good,” Dembeck said. Early onion transplants will be available for shipping at the start of August, and then the direct-seed onions will be ready later in the year.
Most is staying the same, but Minkus Family Farms is trialing a new seed variety, Rosa Bella, the brand name of Bejo Seeds’ blush-pink onion with a mild taste.
Other farms in the state are conducting their usual seed trials as well, always on the hunt for a better-tasting, hardier, longer-lasting crop.
