ELTOPIA, Wash. – Across the Northwest farmers markets are starting up for the season. But produce pickings have been Spartan. Farmers say a cool spring has delayed growth and even killed some crops. [Correspondent Anna King reports from a farm in Eltopia [ell-TOE-pia] in southcentral Washington.]
Lately Alan Schreiber's been scrambling to get his hands on eggplant seedlings. Just recently he had about 12,000 seedlings freeze out. That left Schreiber with thousands of wilted yellow plants where green sprouts had once stood. He also lost tomatoes, peppers and one full week of asparagus production. Schreiber says he's not alone. Many other farmers in the Northwest have damaged crops too.
Alan Schreiber: “Right now this, the wind storm with the freeze has cost us, just on the eggplant alone $25,000 to $30,000.”
Schreiber has a dozen workers in the field furiously replanting.
[Sound: Workers planting eggplant]
They scoot along the rows deftly shoving plants into the dirt. Schreiber says he'll use some plants from his greenhouse for his CSA or Community Supported Agriculture clients until the rest of his delayed crops are ready.
[I'm Anna King in Eltopia, Washington.]
Copyright 2010 Northwest Public Radio
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will be glad to see the back of the cold weather , it has played havoc with the garden, seems to be the story in the Northern hemisphere.
Posted by: Topsoil Suppliers | April 06, 2011 at 02:49 AM