Farmers blame cold weather for slower crops

July 9, 2006

By Amy Schenck

Frontiersman

PALMER - Japanese mustards and Chinese broccoli adorned Marie Domer's booth at the most recent Friday Flings. Greens are good this year, said Domer of the Domer Family Farm, but other crops are growing slower than in previous years.

&#8220Sometimes you come down here and we're up to our elbows in veggies,” Domer said. &#8220It will get better, I hope.”

In the next stand over, Lila Willardson, who was running Kenley's Alaskan Vegetables for the day, compared this year's growing season to the 70s and 80s.

&#8220The last 15 summers have been a lot nicer,” said Willardson, who grew up in Palmer the daughter of dairy farmers. &#8220We haven't had the sun and we haven't had the warmth.”

At Pyrah's Pioneer Peak Farm, Janet Dinwiddie said they're about two to three weeks behind on almost everything.

&#8220On some of it, we'll lose big amounts,” she said. &#8220Things won't have the chance to produce as much as it starts getting colder.”

Even irises have been stunted by this year's change of temperatures.

&#8220The plants seem to be pretty happy, but everything is slow,” said Kathy Mailer, owner of The Iris Lady.

While some farmers expect to be able to compensate for the weather by simply growing cold-weather crops, other farmers say the chill will amount to smaller profits.

Pyrah's Pioneer Peak pick-it-yourself farm near the Bodenburg Butte is expecting some revenue loss, Dinwiddie said.

&#8220As far as how much, it probably depends on the weather for the rest of the summer,” she said.

Despite the foreseeable losses, the prices will stay the same at Pyrah's Pioneer Peak Farm, which sells produce for about half the price of the grocery store, Dinwiddie said.

Farmers market prices are likely to increase though, Domer said.

&#8220I think we're going to see premium prices on warm-weather crops” such as squash and green beans, Domer said.

Domer, who started her organic produce business two years ago after retiring from a 20-year career in the Air Force, said she sets her prices comparable to the grocery store and other Friday Flings vendors.

&#8220Mostly what I do is figure how much I would pay,” Domer said.

Domer's most sold item, radishes, right now cost $2 for a bundle of 10.

The upside to the cold weather is there are no slugs this year, a problem that started plaguing Valley farmers a few years ago, Willardson said. She attributes the disappearance of the slugs to a couple of 20-below spells during the winter.

The slugs &#8220get into everything,” Willardson said. &#8220It's made gardening so much more joyful.”

Contact Amy Schenck at 352-2269 or amy.schenck@frontiersman.com.