Specialty crop growers across the East and mid-Atlantic have been reeling from the aftermath of an early spring heat wave followed by a cold snap that hit between April 19 and April 22. The Packer spoke with a few growers who had been hit by the unfortunate freeze.
Third-Generation Farm Faces the Unthinkable
Stephen Rowand, owner of the pick-your-own Rowand’s Farm in Glassboro, N.J., says this year was the second in his lifetime where his family’s third-generation farm lost its entire crop.
“It’s unusual and unheard of in my lifetime that late, that cold, that much,” he says.
Rowand says he had a gut feeling after the temperatures got as low as they did. Then growers nearby started calling him and his county’s agriculture Extension agent. After a couple of days, he saw the fruitlets turn black.
“I had no idea I’d be totally frozen out. I have no crop. I cannot open. I have nothing to sell,” he says. “It’s the most horrible thing in the world that happened to me in here.”
Rowand says it’s especially hard as last year was one of his best, picking for two weeks longer than normal. And when frosts end in a slight crop loss, the trees put their energy into the surviving fruit, which often grow larger, he adds.
“The cherries grow much bigger, and they weigh almost as much and the people like them more,” he says.
Rowand also just planted an additional 450 acres of Radiance Pearl, which is a rainier-type cherry that boasts cracking resistance that he says won’t likely fruit for at least three or four years, but he also has trees that are 43 years old that he planted as a teenager.
And Rowand says he caught some media attention after posting on Facebook about the crop loss this year to his more than 10,000 followers. He says he has people contact him to get an expected crop harvest to plan June family trips to the farm.
Now, he says he’ll likely pick up some odd jobs over the winter to make ends meet.
Rowand has started a GoFundMe page to get by during this season without a crop. He says he’ll still look after the trees to help them recover from the frost and also set up next year’s fruit buds.
“I’m overwhelmed by it,” he says of the donations to his GoFundMe page. “The generosity and the comments and the support and it makes me feel good. And I know I’ll be able to make it next year. But please, dear God, don’t freeze me out two years in a row.”
Rowand says his heart breaks for his fellow specialty crop growers who experienced a loss, but he says a farmer’s motto is, “There’s always next year.”
“Every year I pray, ‘Can we just have some normal weather for one year, please?’” he says.
Defying Mother Nature With Science in Connecticut
James Wargo, owner of Hidden Gem Orchards in Southbury, Conn., says a devastating freeze April 20, where temperatures dropped to 22.4°F, hit his pick-your-own apple operation.
But the story doesn’t end there.
Wargo, who has a strong horticulture background, says he pulled out every bit of knowledge he could to help the buds that did survive, thrive.
He estimates that a full crop can be achieved when around 5% to 10% of the flowers set fruit, and he deployed a plant growth regulator to help keep flower buds open for longer to help with pollination. He also implemented a different plant growth regulator to set fruit in the absence of fertilization. Wargo says the colder temperatures and wet weather at bloom were unfavorable to bee activity for pollination. Along with his applications, trees were in a long, extended bloom and some flowers had not emerged yet, he says.
“It was an incredible turnaround,” he says. “I went from thinking I was going to be pretty much wiped out for the season. Couldn’t find a green bud on some varieties to now, I see so much fruit out there that is setting.”
While Wargo says he doesn’t believe that positive thinking can defy Mother Nature, he says the outcome he’s had is still unexpected in the best way possible.
“I was pleasantly surprised,” he says. “I really thought that it was going to be a very small crop, so we’ll see.”
Wargo says his new worry in this roller coaster of a season has been the heat wave in mid-May, which can cause some fruit to fall, but he’s hopeful his fruitlets will survive in this wild start to the growing season.
“It got down to 22 [degrees], and by all accounts that should have smoked the crop for the year,” he says. “You kind of have to take it step by step, because there’s always something.”
Scouting Continues in Virginia
Joseph Strippoli, who works in horticulture and sales with Bowman Fruit Sales and Shenandoah Valley Orchards in Timberville, Va., says the farm faced a few freeze events before the frost event in mid-April. He says while there is an apple crop, he’s still in scouting mode to see what fruitlets will stay and what will drop.
“I think we have a very good picture of that due to some indicators; some visible indicators mean that it will abort either now or in the near future,” he says.
Parts of the orchard with the lowest elevations were hit the hardest. When there was little wind during that last cold snap, the air settled. Strippoli says that since the orchard does not have active frost protection, it really impacted parts of the orchard.
“We are lucky that we have somewhere in between 40[%]% to 60% of a crop,” he says.
Strippoli says it’s between now and that second week in June when trees could potentially abort fruit, colloquially called “June drop.”
“Trees that are overloaded or fruits that have poor pollination can abort under stressful hot conditions,” he says. “When the tree starts to get stressed, we start to get a little bit of drought stress in there. They can abort fruit at that point.”
For now, Strippoli says the farm has been working with the Virginia Department of Agriculture to access some disaster relief, as are many specialty crop growers in the state. He says he’s hopeful the state will declare a natural disaster and then look to the USDA for federal relief.
“We’re very lucky to have crop insurance,” he says. “We are a strong supporter of crop insurance and, through the farm bill, having it for specialty crops. Crop insurance doesn’t keep us going long term; it just plugs the holes. We can’t operate on a business model that relies on insurance every year. We’d go broke. So, sometimes we do need a little bit of extra help.”
Political Push for Relief
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill has declared a state of emergency following loss assessments compiled by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture and the Farm Service Agency committees. In the announcement, the state says damage ranges from 30% to 100% losses and estimates about $300 million in total crop losses.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has formally asked Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to declare a federal agricultural disaster for all counties in Pennsylvania. Shapiro and Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding toured growers in Lancaster County to assess the damage earlier this month.
Maryland Farm Bureau says 90 of the state’s specialty growers that reported impacts from the frost, with the average production loss at 67.5%. Maryland Farm Bureau also asked Rollins to expedite a disaster declaration to unlock federal relief for those growers affected.
