Dry spell less of a problem for farmers right now

New Jersey has not seen any appreciable rain lately, but farmers in the state say they are all right — for now.

Ben Casella, a research associate at the New Jersey Farm Bureau Federation, says there is concern about replenishing streams and ponds used for farm irrigation. And, Casella says, "We are obviously experiencing some of the damage that occurred over the summer due to a lot of the green crops not getting enough rain."

But for the most part, the crop season has ended.

He says of the dry weather, "It has helped the pumpkin crop, because you really would rather have less rain than too much rain."

Casella also says there may also be concern for those farmers who put in so-called "cover crops" over the winter, and whether they will see enough wet weather.

Casella says nice sunny weather is good for agritourism. The broccoli crop also needed some irrigation help.

There are also costs associated with irrigation of any crop at any point in the season.

"Obviously with irrigating, there are a lot of costs that come with it, for the equipment, as well as the fuel that is required, or the electricity that is used to pump the water," Casella said. "So obviously, you hope that you can recover that additional expense at the market, when it comes time to sell your product."

And he makes the point that sometimes dry weather is better than an alternative of losing a majority of your crops because of constant rain, where you get impacted by significant disease pressure.

Casella says the hope is that this prolonged dry spell will end this fall or winter, "if this carries on through the winter, it will spike a new concern."

Joe Cutter is the afternoon news anchor on New Jersey 101.5

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