Farmers welcome colder temperatures on Delmarva

MARYLAND – It’s no secret how important crops and agriculture are here on Delmarva, but with warmer temperatures becoming a thing of the past, farmers in our area are preparing for winter.

“Hopefully it does frost, because if it does frost it will go ahead and kill them,” a local farmer, Virgil Shockley, said.

Shockley is talking about soybeans, and he’s ready for them to dry up and, yes, die.

“The bean has to dry, the stem hast to dry, in order for you to cut it with a combine,” he explained.

When the cold temperatures arrive, that means it’s time for Shockley to cash in on his crop.

“You’re looking at a little over $175, $200 an acre profit on soybeans,” he said.

And with 90 acres of soybeans, Shockley says that money is no small feat. But he’s not the only local farmer inviting colder temperatures to the region.

“I’m ready for it, we had a long year,” another local farmer, Andy Holloway, said.

Holloway says his work won’t stop with the colder weather, it’ll just change. That means instead of his summer crops, Holloway’s focus will turn to fall and winter crops.

“We still have a lot of fall crops that we’re harvesting, butternut squash, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, radishes, but it’s good to have a break, a clean break from the summertime season and get right in to the fall,” he said.

And once those fall crops are out of season, Holloway says 2020 preparations will begin.

“There’s a lot of cleanup involved, we’ve got to clean up all the fields, we’ve got to check the p.h. levels in all the fields, put amendments back into the soil and be prepared for what we’re going to plant and where we’re going to plant it in,” Holloway said.

One thing both farmers agree on: colder temperatures are welcome here on Delmarva.

“If you can take your boots off, and prop your feet up for Thanksgiving dinner and have the combine in the shed and you’re done, that’s a good thing,” Shockley said.