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SEPTEMBER 16, 2011 -- As residents across Connecticut try to put Tropical Storm Irene behind them, the full extent of the devastation to the state's farms is only now beginning to become clear — and it's worse than initially thought.
Hampered by roads blocked by downed trees and power lines, state and federal agricultural officials couldn't easily reach farms to survey the destruction from Irene and the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee. But when they did, they were shocked at what they saw: hundreds of acres of sweet corn, green beans and pumpkins destroyed.
While apples weren't hit as hard as the vegetables, some orchards — particularly in eastern Connecticut — are being forced to cut short their "pick-your-own" apple season, a quintessential autumn tradition in New England.
Losses to farms are expected to run into the millions of dollars, perhaps more than $10 million. Damage is still being assessed.
None of this surprises Joe DeFrancesco, the third generation of a farming family in North Branford.
The rains that pounded DeFrancesco's 100-acre farm left his fields a sopping, rotting mess. He has a dozen workers daily scouring the rows of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, sorting what can be salvaged. His tomatoes were hit especially hard: about 50 percent of the harvest is being tossed. Distributors won't accept tomatoes that are blemished or split — common consequences of too much rain.
"It's worse than I thought a week ago," DeFrancesco, 61, said this week. "We are trying to get what we can out of the fields, but there's a lot of waste. We didn't get destroyed by the flooding from the rivers. But the plants were in water for days and days."
In Rocky Hill, the Fair Weather Acres farm — the largest wholesale grower of string and wax beans in New England — was flooded by the Connecticut River, leaving parts of the 500-acre farm under as much as 10 feet of water. Even now — two weeks after Lee worsened the soaking started by Irene — some parts of the farm are still water-logged.
Of the 450 acres of beans planted at the farm, 230 acres are a total loss. That's partly because the crops were potentially exposed to river water contaminated by raw sewage that seeped into the Connecticut during the storm.
"It has devastated our farm," said Billy Collins, the farm's co-owner.
Collins said he is facing a $760,000 loss on the bean crop alone, plus $90,000 for 22 acres of lost pumpkins, both on a wholesale basis. He doesn't qualify for an insurance payout because his crop losses — though monumental this year — aren't high enough based on an average of the past five years.
He may have a shot at a low-interest loan though the federal government if the U.S. Department of Agriculture declares the state a disaster area. Connecticut's congressional delegation is pushing for that, and state agricultural officials say all but one of the state's eight counties appear to qualify, having a 30 percent production loss of at least one crop. Farmers in the one remaining county — Tolland — may benefit because it is contiguous to the others.
A congressional bill, if approved, also could provide emergency relief for farmers.
Collins said he's getting his application for the low-cost loans ready. He'll need the help: He harvested some of his crop, but it won't be enough to cover his costs for the growing season. His lines of credit are coming due; they allow him to finance, among other things, the purchase of seed that runs Collins at least $120,000 a year.
Flattened Corn
Other farms find themselves in a similar predicament. Officials from the USDA's Farm Service Agency in Connecticut said this week that totals of crop damage are still being tallied but the preliminary counts paint a disturbing picture of the end of this year's growing season.
Nearly 600 of the 2,100 acres planted with sweet corn were damaged, knocked over by punishing winds and then saturated by days of driving rain. Only half of the crop may end up being saved, according to the agency's latest count from last week.
Even more worrisome is the potential loss of silage and grain corn to feed livestock. More than 4,000 of the 24,000 acres planted with feed corn were damaged, and 40 percent may be a total loss.
"We have a lot of flattened corn," said Marsha Jette, executive director of the Farm Service Agency in Connecticut. "It reminds me of 1985 and Hurricane Gloria."
Jette said initial observations of farms right after Irene, which came ashore in Connecticut Aug. 27, proved deceiving. Drive-bys and flyovers appeared to show fields relatively unscathed.
"At first it didn't look so bad," Jette said. "But when you get onto the farm, it looks like an egg beater hit the middle of the field."
Even without Irene or Lee, the 2011 growing season was already a tough one. The year started out cold and wet, then turned dry abruptly, forcing irrigation. Irene and Lee hit farms differently depending on their location in the state: some were battered by strong winds, others by torrential downpours and still others flooded.
With the advanced warning of Irene, some farmers were able to make an earlier than usual harvest, saving crops from the storm. But the long power outages that followed knocked out refrigeration units not powered by backup generators, causing produce to spoil.
"We got through the majority of the week following the storm, but after that we were pretty much done," said Ken Yandow, president of Freshpoint-Connecticut in Hartford, a major distributor of produce in the state, including the harvest from local farms.
In the two weeks following Irene, the wholesale price of green beans, for instance, rose to $1 to $2 a pound, meaning that shoppers were paying between $1.50 and $2.50 a pound at the store, according to Yandow. Normally, the wholesale price is closer to 90 cents, with the retail price ranging from $1.29 to $1.59.
Since then, Yandow said, retail prices have settled back down as supplies of fruit and vegetables have been brought in from Canada, the Carolinas, Georgia and the West.
Unclear Insurance
While the supplies of locally grown vegetables and fruits are far shorter than normal for this time of year, produce is available. Some farms were spared completely, never even losing power, state agricultural officials note.
That's not much comfort to Joe and Sandy Dondero, the fourth generation of a farming family in Glastonbury.
Some of the Donderos' farm's most popular apples — Cortlands, Galas and Honey Crisps — weren't ripe enough to pick before the storm. Now, the rows of apple trees are littered with thousands of fallen fruit. Typically, the farm's "pick-your-own" season runs through Halloween. This year, the Donderos will be lucky if it lasts through next weekend, Sandy Dondero said.
An even bigger concern, however, are the scores of trees knocked over by the strong winds — and what that may mean for future harvests.
This week, the tree damage was apparent. Some just snapped off and are a complete loss, their leaves now withered. Others that had been knocked over have been propped up with heavy metal stakes. It's unclear how many will survive — the ground at the base of their trunks is heaved up, a sign that roots have been disturbed.
Most damaged trees are unlikely to grow straight again — and that can mean branches bearing fruit can snap off.
Dondero said he expects tens of thousands of dollars in losses this year, partly because the vegetables he raises — tomatoes, cucumbers and corn — also were heavily damaged
True, insurance will cover some of the losses, but right now it isn't clear how much, Joe Dondero said.
"And," he said, "it ain't nothing like having your crop to sell."
A list of "pick-your-own" apple orchards in Connecticut can be found at http://www.ctapples.com/growers.html. Availability may vary due to storm damage.
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