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Unusual Spring Weather Causes Issues for CNY Farmers Unusual Spring Weather Causes Issues for CNY Farmers

By Danyell Monk

JORDAN PIERRE: A staple event of the summer returns to Downtown Syracuse today. Our Danyell Monk joins us in studio with the impact of the recent dry weather on local farmers. Danyell?

DANYELL MONK: Jordan, Polina, the Syracuse Downtown Farmers Market began today in Clinton square. A spring of unusual weather has caused multiple issues for some of the vendors at the market. Blue skies, blue containers of produce and the singer of blue suede shoes. These are just a few of the true blue successes at the opening day of the fifty-first season of the Downtown Farmers Market. For Downtown Committee of Syracuse Communications Associate Vanessa Szwejbka, those blue skies are exciting.

VANESSA SZWEJBKA: Last year we did have for some reason, rain on every Tuesday. So to have the sunshine on this opening day gives us hope that we’ll have good weather because obviously better the weather the more people patronize the farmer’s market.

MONK: Farmer Otis Vezzose has been a vendor at the downtown farmers market since 1994 and is also excited to see market patrons.

OTIS VEZZOSE: I like dealing with the people. It’s fun.

MONK: However, despite opening day sunshine, Vezzose wishes this spring would have had more rain.

VEZZOSE: We just got our first rain yesterday. It was, uh, we probably got three quarters of an inch, which we really needed to help things along but other than that it’s hasn’t been a very good spring.

MONK: On Monday, Central New York had it’s most precipitation in a single day for this year. In the three weeks prior to Monday, Syracuse had only seen a quarter inch of rain. This in addition to late cold weather and frosts has led to issues for farmers produce.

VEZZOSE: When we got into May we had we had some some real cold mornings. We lost quite a few apples, some peaches.

MONK: Vezzose and many other farmers hope that the start to the Downtown Farmers Market and the summer season, will also mean a start to better farming weather. This chart shows the rainfall in Syracuse from January 1st up until yesterday. You can see that especially over the last few weeks we’ve seen very little rainfall. In fact, this May was the 10th driest on record since 1902. As mentioned, Monday was the most amount of precipitation Syracuse saw this year. Yesterday was the first time since April 30th that more than an inch of precipitation fell.

SYRACUSE N.Y. (NCC News) — Tuesday kicked off the 51st season of the Downtown Farmers Market in Syracuse.

The weekly market in Clinton Square has its share of city-favorite vendors as well as some new features. Downtown Committee of Syracuse Communications Associate Vanessa Szwejbka said that one new addition to the market this year is a mobile market from the CNY Regional Market.

“They’re going to be here to provide meats and cheeses which is great,” said Szwejbka. “By having them we have that full circle aspect. You can shop here and get everything you need for a meal.”

Additionally, the market will have a “VIP Corner” where a new vendor is highlighted each week. Szwejbka said this will allow people to learn more about the people they’re buying from, including some of their history and origin.

One vendor that has been selling produce and flowers at the market for a long time is Otis Vezzose. Vezzose said he loves helping people learn about the products he is selling and finding which products best fit their needs. However, Vezzose says he hopes that more people come to the Downtown Farmers Market this year as last year’s attendance seemed lower.

“I think they’re buying more stuff online,” said Vezzose. “I hope we get some people out here. A lot of people have been working from home.”

Vezzose said this has affected the market since when people from nearby businesses, like Niagara Mohawk, had most of their employees working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was far less foot traffic through the market.

Unusual spring weather has also affected produce and flower growth. Central New York has had a drought over the past three weeks, which has made it hard to keep crops and flowers hydrated. Additionally, unexpected late cold weather also led farmers to lose certain crops.

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