Abbott Farms Takes Precautions Against Weather

Kennedy Houston: Abbott Farms has been in Baldwinsville since 1866. They mainly grow fruit crops. Owner of Abbott Farms Warren Abbott says one precaution they may take is switching out their pesticides.

Warren Abbott: Pyrethrin’s which actually homeowners can use are degraded in high temperature, so I’m probably not gonna use a pyrethrin on a day that’s above 85 degrees.

Houston: Abbott Farms is prepared for extra rainfall too. Abbott says the farm sprays a control to protect against fungal disease like apple scab.

Abbott: If we have warmer temperatures and more leaf wetness then we’re gonna have to spray more often to control that disease.

Houston: Abbott says the best way to manage a farm is to always take note of the risks. To learn more about Abbott Farms visit w-w-w-dot-abbott-farms-dot-com. Kennedy Houston, N-C-C News.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News)– Abbott Farms is ten steps ahead.

Abbott Farms has been a staple in the Central New York Community since 1866. Originally, the farm was a subsistence farm. Warren Abbott the Owner of Abbott Farms said,” You grew everything that you needed to survive to subsist on and then you would grow a little extra something so you had something to pay the black smith to shoe your horses or whatever you needed”.

Overtime, the farm would naturally evolve from subsistence farming, to dairy, to grain, and now retail and fruit crops. With fruit crops, the heat can be a blessing and a curse.

“It would be bad if in our case we’re pick your own so we want that berry on the plant for as long a time as possible until people can come and pick it…we have to stay ahead of that curve.” Abbott said,” the good side of it is if they’re ripe in a narrower window wholesale grower can come into that particular variety…and they’ll be able to get more salable berries in that one picking that they’re going through…it’s labor efficiency increase actually.”

Excessive rain can also impact the crops both positively and negatively. When asked about the rain Abbott said,”We like rainfall. We like it to come slow enough so that it doesn’t run off and fast enough so that it doesn’t cause increases in disease…the foliage is moist for too long then we have increased risk of having fungal diseases.”

To prevent disease from happening, the farm uses a model of temperature and leaf wetness, from Cornel, to determine if they’re at risk of disease. If so, they spray a control to prevent the disease from occurring.

It seems Abbott Farms is prepared for anything.