Drought is creeping across more of Massachusetts. But if there’s one silver lining, it’s happening at a time when produce growers are winding their seasons down.
At Volante Farms in Needham, one field of cold-weather crops remains, the kale, swiss chard, and bok choy looking lush, despite the lack of rain. There’s a reason for that.
“We never had to water this late in the season,” said co-owner David Volante. “We had some storage crops we had to pull like carrots and beets, for example. It was just too dry to pull them out of the ground so we had to water them, essentially, to harvest them. Which is not something we’ve had to deal with in prior years.”
[ ‘Minimize overall water use’: Major drought declared across Massachusetts, state officials say ]
Volante said that normally irrigation ends in September — when it’s expected that autumn rains will take over. That hasn’t happened almost at all this year. Since September, Needham has seen about two inches of rain. That’s 75% below the normal average.
“I mean nature’s unpredictable,” said Volante. It’s always kind of challenging. Ultimately in agriculture and farming, especially in New England, we have such a short season we have to make the most of it.”
Dave Morin’s crops have to make it through not one growing season — but ten. More than forty years ago, Dave got into the Christmas Tree growing business. He is the owner of Arrowhead Acres in Uxbridge, which will open its cut-your-own-tree season in a few weeks.
Morin said he’s seen minimal damage from the drought — mainly seedlings that are shallow-rooted. If the drought goes on another few months, it might be another story.
“These eight-foot trees have roots that go down four feet,” he said. “This drought’s only been a month or two, so it’s drying out maybe six inches down.”
Water is critical for any living thing. But Morin does not irrigate his Frasier Firs.
“This farm is all naturally watered,” he said. “Whatever the rain provides is what we get for water.”
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