Heat hurts some farmer harvests

For three or four days, Dean Swanson could hear the corn grow.

The corn he planted Saturday, June 26 was up four days later. Stalks that was already a foot tall doubled in a week.

“It was fun to watch things grow so fast,” he said. “Like they say in the Midwest, you could hear it!”

Meanwhile, Swanson’s raspberries took it on the chin. He estimates the heat bleached about 20 percent of his crop, mostly berries on the west side of north-south rows.

Kai Ottesen saw the same phenomenon at Hedlin Family Farms, on berries higher on the cane that did not have good leaf shading.

“But by and large, we did alright,” he said, except that the crew had to quickly pick all the snap peas before the cool-weather crop “completely gave up.”

Hedlin’s blueberries are fine. Swanson’s blackberries are fine. Strawberries were almost over anyway. Upriver, berries were hit hard.

“We are fortunate that we are on the water, which buffers the heat a bit,” said Ottesen. “We don’t have quite the same highs as they get in Mount Vernon or up in Rockport. And it cools down faster at night.”

Crops that like heat are thriving and are one to three weeks ahead. Crops that do not like heat “are wilting,” said Ray De Vries of Ralph’s Greenhouse.

Soil type also makes a difference. “If you’re farming in something that will retain moisture or is close to the river where water is easy to get to, the fields are fine. In sandier soil, they are turning brown,” he said.

With the Skagit River swollen with snowmelt, there is adequate water for irrigation now. Looking ahead, De Vries is concerned that that river levels will drop in August and September, just when farmers most need water.

In hot weather, potatoes shut down, said John Thulen of Pioneer Potatoes. “They stop growing and even go backwards as they lose moisture.”

Some potatoes will be smaller. Yields may be lower. But at least the heat wave “is a burden shared by the whole west coast,” he said. “It’s worse when it’s just you, when the flood just hits your field.”

The heat did not bother the pumpkins growing at Gordon Skagit Farms, but over at Dona Flora, many of Beth Hailey’s flowers “crisped and turned white,” she said. “The Sweet Williams that were in the sun looked like someone threw bleach on them.”

Jason Vander Kooy’s alfalfa “grew like crazy” last week but pasture grass did not like it much. His Harmony Dairy irrigation is “going full bore” as he tries to keep the grass alive until rain comes.

“Heat is dangerous for cows,” said Vander Kooy. “They can’t cool themselves like a human can. When it hit 100 degrees, the cows were uncomfortable. They were eating less, drinking lots of water and didn’t want to move.”

His cows made it through – but had the heat wave gone on one or two more days, the story might have been different.

Sheds and coops tucked under the west side of Pleasant Ridge meant morning shade for the Mesman Farm’s sheep and chickens, said Anita Mesman.

Because the Katahdin sheep they raise have a smooth hair coat rather than fleece, they adapt better to high heat.

Still, they sought shade under tarps and buildings when the sun came over the Ridge. “I walked through the flock four to five times a day to make sure they were not in distress and that they were drinking enough water,” Mesman said.

Water mattered to humans too. “We started earlier and didn’t work as long, made sure everybody was drinking a lot of water and took a juice break every afternoon,” said De Vries.

Both Ralph’s and Hedlin’s comply with the Washington state heat rule, which requires employers to provide heat stress training, monitor employees, provide water and implement a heat illness accident prevention plan May 1-Sept. 30.

“We gotta take care of people,” said De Vries. “They are the ones that make the farm work.”

“Nothing we grow is worth passing out for,” added Ottesen.

The bottom line on last week?

“It was miserable for employees, cows, everybody,” said Vander Kooy. “I don’t want to do go through that again.”