Sporadic weather affecting farmers’ start to the upcoming season
47 ABC – It’s been a roller coaster weather wise here on Delmarva so far in 2019, with a wintry mix one day and then 60 degree weather the next and it’s making it extremely difficult for farmers to do their job.
“Going to Vegas getting a $99 flight to Vegas and taking a couple hundred bucks with you, what the heck, it would probably be more profitable than putting corn in the ground that’s for sure,” exclaims Virgil Shockley, a farmer in Worcester County.
That’s because right now local farmers are at a complete standstill.
“This is the time of year that we typically would be doing maintenance in our fields, which is cleaning ditches out, securing some of the farm lands and making sure that they’re good to go for the season coming up,” explains Andy Holloway, owner of Baywater Farms.
But they can’t gear up for the season ahead due to the weather we’ve been experiencing here on the shore.
“One day it’s 15, 20 degrees then the next day it’s 60, then 24 hours later or 48 hours later it’s back down to 20 degrees again. It’s just been an unusual winter. A crazy winter as far as temperatures go,” says Shockley.
Which is keeping farmers indoors, something they’d rather not be doing.
“With the soil, the way it’s saturated trying to put fertilizer or even putting on a tractor with dual tires and four-wheel-drive, all you’re going to do is create all kinds of ruts in the field.”
Holloway adds, “It’s very frustrating because we’d love to be spending our time working outside doing that sort of thing, but right now you can’t, you’ve got to wait for it to dry up.”
Which is a tough thing to do since 2018 proved to be a difficult year for locals farmers, but we’re told staying optimistic is a must in this industry.
“Every year is different as a farmer you just get used to being patient. Mother Nature eventually will figure out what she’s doing, I guess,” says Shockley.
“We’re really hoping if the weather can start helping us out, maybe everything else will fall in line.”
So while farmers are trying to stay positive and hoping for better weather in the coming weeks, right now it’s pretty quiet out here in the fields.
Shockley says that not only does the weather need to clear up to have a good year, but trade agreements with China also have to be resolved.
He also says that prices for fertilizer are up, seed prices are up and production depends on Mother Nature. So if yield prices don’t go up, it could significantly hurt a farmer’s bottom line.
