By Brandon T. Bisceglia
As Connecticut simmers through a long summer drought, farms in Milford and Orange have been taking measures to handle the lack of precipitation.
The US Drought Monitor has listed most of the state as being in moderate to severe drought for the last few months, including the area that includes Milford and Orange. A small portion of the eastern side of the state is in “exceptional” drought.
In July, Gov. Ned Lamont declared a stage 2 drought for the whole state, and on Aug. 18 moved Windham and New London counties to stage 3, following recommendations from the Connecticut Interagency Drought Workgroup. The state has five drought levels, with 5 being the most severe.
Some local farms fared the conditions without too much trouble, turning to their own water stores when the weather didn’t cooperate.
“Thankfully we have incredible wells and have had no problem irrigating our plants,” Sunflower Farm of Orange said in a statement. The farm grows annuals, perennials, herbs, pumpkins and mums.
Sometimes, though, having extra water for your plants doesn’t matter, as drought also affects other parts of the surrounding ecosystem.
“For the first time ever, deer ate all the green tomatoes off our plants, and chewed back the tomato vines also. Desperate for moisture,” said Maria Macri of River Crest Farm in Milford. River Crest grows flowers, produce and Christmas trees.
“We used our soaker hoses way more than normal, over-taxing the well, but kept most things growing,” Macri said. “The popcorn is looking very sad. Our paw-paws are tiny this year compared to last year.”
Unlike many weather events, drought is a slow-moving crisis. Weeks or months of less-than-normal precipitation add up over time to a significant deficit that can take a similar amount of time to reverse. Although several inches of rain fell across much of the region in early September, for instance, it was not enough to make up for months of below-normal precipitation totals. Above-average temperatures during much of the summer also contributed to faster evaporation – another condition that exacerbates drought.
Of course, many farms in the state have experienced drought before – the last one was in 2020. Many of them take measures to reduce the impact of dry conditions.
That was the case for Stephan and Rachel Bespuda of Cedar Hill Farm in Orange.
“One of our sustainable production methods includes rotationally grazing our cattle which improves the soil and makes the pastures more resilient during dry years. This combined with growing a diverse selection of grass and other forages including some that do well in hot dry weather has helped soften the blow of the drought,” the Bespudas said.
There have nevertheless been tradeoffs for the farm, which sells farm-raised beef, chicken, pork, turkey and eggs.
“We still have had to feed our cattle more hay than usual this summer meaning expensive inputs and reduced yields due to lack of rain will make our winter feed run short and be costly to replace,” they said.
Climate models predict that Connecticut will see an increase in heavy precipitation events and more rainfall overall in the coming decades, but also higher drought risk as average temperatures rise and pull more moisture out of the soil.