Anchor: Heavy rains are once again hitting central New York.Our Kendra Sheehan is live downtown with the impacts of this continuous rain.
Reporter: This rain is causing several problems in Central new York. Flash flood warnings have been in effect throughout the day and you can see behind me this creek is near overflow. But the rain is also impacting farmers who are experiencing one of their worst growing seasons. But its not just affecting the quantity of crops farmers can grow. Local farmer Otis Vezzose says the large amounts of rain also affects the quality.
Vezzose: “The sun and the warm weather help flavor up some of these berries and stuff and were just not getting that. so they are kinda water logged and just okay. nothing special.”)
Reporter: Vezzose says he hasn’t seen a growing season this bad since his time here in Central New York. The large amounts of rainfall and cooler temperatures have caused a huge decrease in the number of crops farmers have been able to produce this year. Many acres of land are too flooded to plant any crops and the seeds that have been planted are rotting with too much rainfall. Farmers say they are expected to take heavy losses because of that. With fewer crops available don’t be surprised if you see higher prices on several of your favorite produce. Local resident Betsy Elkins says this season she’s noticed a difference.
Elkins: “The strawberries are late, they are harder to find and they are a little more expensive. But I love them so ill continue to buy them.”
Farmers say they hope things turn around. I spoke to several who said they were 6th generation farmers s they said they are not going anywhere anytime soon. They have money saved up for rough seasons like these but they say they hope next year is better.
By Kendra Sheehan Syracuse, N.Y. (NCC News) — These past few months have been some of the wettest months in Syracuse’s history. This is causing area farmers to experience one of the worst growing seasons. Local farmer Otis Vezzose said this season is by far the most challenging.
“This is our first really bad year as far as getting in the going season, ’17 we had some rain but we could get stuff padded. But this year here just seems cold, miserable and you just can’t get (the plants) in,” said Vezzose.
Some farmers said they expect their income to be cut in half this year. They said several acres of land have flooded so much that they are virtually unusable. Much fewer crops will be available this year causing an increase in produce prices. The season has been so bad local farmers like Ben Paine have looked for other ways to stay profitable.
“We just kind of changed our plan, we’re looking to growing more fall crops now instead of the early beans and stuff, we’re going to go Brussels sprouts and stuff like that,” said Paine.
Paine said he is a sixth generation farming and he doesn’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon despite the horrible season. Many farmers are hopeful that Mother Nature turns things around and they finish the season strong.
