Across Connecticut, farms are seeing tougher growing conditions in the current drought, which is the worst New England has seen in more than a decade.
As the Hartford Courant reported in September, some Connecticut farmers estimate a loss of almost half of their normal hay and corn crops. Other losses in vegetable crops and dairy herd milk production are due to the past summer’s heat.
However, in Mansfield the Spring Valley Student Farm had a fairly conventional season. In fact, they just delivered their last tomato crop to restaurant Chuck & Augie’s on Tuesday, Dec. 5- almost a month after last year’s harvest ended last year.
Farm Manager Julia Cartabiano attributed that success to the farm’s organic farming methods and use of soil building.
The farm, which has been housing students year-long and providing them with practical farm experience since 2010, practices conservative organic growing methods such as living crop covers, planting seeds close together and not tilling often.
In terms of direct affect of the drought, Spring Valley Student Farm had to bring in “artificial” water from UConn to help seedlings grow at the start.
“The drought is an inconvenience and its an economic concern because you’re buying water,” Cartabiano said. Other farms could also be paying to pump in water or for plastic tubing for irrigation sytems, she said.
Seedlings need to be in constant moisture in order to keep growing so with reduced groundwater, the farm decided to add UConn-bought water, an expensive and impure source water.
Water from the University includes the chemical Chlorine, which deteriorates soil health. Ideally, Cartabiano would like to set up a system to use the nearby natural stream water instead, but that’s a project for the future she said.
“That was our biggest challenge, and that’s not a normal thing. Normally you would get enough soil moisture so you wouldn’t have to add water to get your seeds to start in the first place. That’s definitely the last couple years, Cartabiano said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week declared Hartford, Litchfield, Tolland and Windham Counties natural disaster areas because of the drought, making farmers in those regions eligible to apply for federal low interest loans and other federal assistance.
Rainfall wasn’t only low for the Tolland region this season, but as Cartabiano said, it was inconsistent and heavy when it did come. Heavy rainfall meant it wasn’t absorbed into the soil well- sliding off the top or breaking up soil molecules.
The farm’s hoop greenhouse crops– spinach, a lettuce mix, kale and tatsoi– have to be watered three times every day. The top soil isn’t as moist as it should be, student farmer Angie Cretella said.
“In the middle of the drought we were probably spending two hours a day just watering,” Cartbiano said.
There are three paid students on the farm and with all the watering, their wages were spent on time watering while they could be doing something more beneficial for the growth of the farm, such as planning for next season’s crop or posting on social media, she said.
Spring Valley Student Farm practices organic growing, which Cartbiano said is a reason they were resilient to the drought’s impact.
These methods include practicing no-till, leaving fields unplowed and planting over the leftover crop the next season, according to Cartbiano. This prevents erosion and allows the soil to consume more nutrients.
To Cartbiano it makes sense for farmers to sustain a farm with minimal environmental harm, although many conventional farms do not practice the same sustainable methods.
Regenerative organic agriculture can also help reduce the general effects of climate change, according to Rodale Institute.
“If management of all current cropland shifted to reflect the regenerative model… we could potentially sequester more than 40% of annual emissions,” according to the Rodale Institute website.