Rain is Good for Crops, but too Much Rain — like We’ve Had this Summer — can Spoil a Harvest

 

Not necessarily. In years like 2018, which broke rainfall records for the Lancaster County region, too much rain is proving detrimental to certain growers.

 

“Dry years will scare you, wet years will starve you,” Jeff Stoltzfus, a Penn State Extension food safety educator and produce farmer in eastern Lancaster County, said Friday.

 

Dry seasons get more attention because “everyone sees how dry it is,” but farmers often can fix the situation with irrigation, Stoltzfus said.

 

“When it gets wet and you lose a crop, there’s nothing you can do,” he said. “It doesn’t work in reverse. You can’t suck the water out of the ground.”

 

The big concern now, said Penn State agronomy educator Leon Ressler, “is just being able to get in the field to get the corn and soybeans harvested. There’s also been some concern with the corn actually sprouting on the plant.”

 

Pumpkins are in danger of rot because of oversaturation, Ressler added.

 

Sustained periods of rain are always problematic for growers, he said.

 

“When it’s so wet that plants are standing in water, that’s not good,” he explained. “There are crops that don’t suffer as much — corn can take it better than fruit crops, for instance.

 

“Crops need some air in the soil. When it’s water-logged and there’s no air, that’s not a good thing. Eventually you’ll get some rot,” he added. “But we he have pretty good drainage in Lancaster County, so if we get some good weather we’ll be OK.”

 

Here’s how the rain has affected some local crops.

 

“Vegetables have struggled with diseases” because of the rain, Stoltzfus said. “Diseases are always a problem in wet years, bacterial diseases particularly. That’s been a struggle all summer.”

 

With broccoli and cauliflower, he said, some local farmers are considering simply plowing over the crops.

 

“They’re getting so much rot in the field, it’s not even worth trying to harvest anything,” Stoltzfus said. “Some are wondering if it’s better to plant a cover crop and hope for better luck next year.”

 

Tomatoes — many of which are grown in a high tunnel system which protects plants from the elements — did better this year, he said.

 

“It was a challenging year for tomato growers,” Stoltzfus said. “But they had a marketable crop.”

 

Globally, Ressler said, farmers are seeing bumper crops of both corn and soybeans this year.

 

That means prices are depressed, he said — hurt both by an overabundance of produce and tariffs that are sending some international buyers to other sources.

 

Local growers, who are already hurting because of reduced prices, have even less produce to sell because of the rain, Ressler said.

 

“It’s a double whammy, there’s no question about that,” he said.

 

Other potential problems abound, Ressler said. Some corn is sprouting on the ear because of excessive moisture. It’s also possible to get mold on soybeans, he said.

 

A week of dry weather would be a huge help, he said.

 

Daryl Martin, co-owner of Brecknock Orchard, said they have a good apple crop this year, but growers are seeing issues because of the rain such as spotting and excess water around the core.

 

The skin also can crack after too much rain, he said.

 

“We’re not going to have as much, but there are plenty of apples,” he said. “It’s not going to be a total crop loss.”

 

Tobacco doesn’t do well in standing water, extension educator Jeff Graybill told Lancaster Farming last month.

 

Fortunately, blue mold — which typically thrives in wet weather — didn’t get well established in Lancaster County tobacco fields this summer, he said.

 

Graybill said some farmers expanded their tobacco crop because of declining milk prices. So, despite the weather, the USDA projects that Pennsylvania harvesters will produce 19 million pounds of tobacco this year, a small increase over previous years.

 

Grazing animals “have to be kept outside,” said Penn State agronomy educator Leon Ressler.

 

“It’s not healthy to be stomping around in the mud, and it’s not good for the pastures as well,” he said.

 

Too much rain makes it challenging for grazing herds, particularly dairy cattle, agreed Mauricio Rosales, a Penn State Extension specialist in animal health.

 

Heavy rain means farmers “may need to keep the cows indoor for a longer period,” he said.

 

Otherwise, Rosales said, cows exposed to wet, dirty conditions “may develop a higher somatic cell count,” which is a parameter of milk quality determined by the number of cells per milliliter in milk and can lead to mastitis infections.

 

Those conditions also can lead to hoof rot, he said, causing lameness in livestock and decreasing production.

 

“Also, when keeping the cows inside, farmers have to provide feed, which increases their cost of production,” Rosales said.

 

“On the bright side, we are seeing that pastures are looking greener than in the past for this time of the year,” he said. “The challenge is to decide when cows can go out and take advantage of the grass without getting too wet.”