Rainy summer ruining crops on some N.B farms

Bunker Hill Farm, located in the Rusagonis area, lost most of its vegetable crops due to heavy rains this season.

Richard Cleveland has been running the farm for more than 40 years with his wife and said this year, rainkept ruining their seeds.

"The bulk of our [seeds] got drowned out," Cleveland said in an interview on Shift. "We tried replanting some of the stuff but no sooner did we replant, than the rains would hit again."

Bunker Hill Farm is a non-commercial operation, where the couple grow vegetables, hay and raise livestock. The majority of their customers are long-term clients.

On Friday they told customers that with the exception of tomatoes and peppers, which are planted in a hoop house, they won't have any vegetables to sell this season.

"I dare say they're disappointed because some of these people have been with us for, you know, between 30 and 40 years, buying everything from strawberries to raspberries to garden produce," said Cleveland.

He said the rain also deteriorated the quality of Bunker Hill Farm's corn.

"It looks like someone cut it off at the two-foot level," he said. "When you get too much moisture, I find a lot of the leaves in a lot of different plants, especially corn, they turn yellow."

Now Cleveland is looking for options to prevent rain from ruining his crops next season.

"We might have to start putting some drain tile in to try and get the water away quicker if we're going to continue to grow."

'No real breaks'

Cleveland's not alone.

Ken Reickerhas been running Sussex Valley Vegetable Farms for about 45 years.

He grows a variety of produce including four different types of squash and said some of his squash crops are now struggling to grow due to excessive downpours.

"It's probably the worst we've seen, you know, for that amount of water," said Reicker.

"We've had wet seasons before but we always seem to get a break and [this year], there have been no real breaks other than, you know, a couple days at a time."

In the last four weeks, Reickersaid he's seen approximately eight inches of water and is expecting more in the coming weeks.

"There's not much we can do, it's just hope for the best," Reicker said. "Mother Nature will do what it's going to do and we'll have to adapt accordingly."