When a big clap of thunder rang out from dark clouds, Jane Presby went into rescue mode.
“Get inside,” she said as she ushered two workers from the greenhouses and into the safety of the barn. Presby stayed behind, ratcheting down plastic sheets to protect the precious produce from the oncoming wind.
Then the rain began. Seen out of the large doors of Dimond Hill’s farm stand last Wednesday, it poured in heavy, pounding sheets on top of rows of vegetables, cover-crop fields and the llama shed.
Moments later, it was already over. Those hard and fast five minutes of moisture – which created runoff more than actually watering plants – were the first Presby had in weeks.
“There’s no water in the soil,” she said. “It’s crazy.”
A very cold spring, combined with a dry start to summer, has made for a tough start to this year’s growing season. Presby has hundreds of big, juicy tomatoes in her high tunnels, though instead of their usual bright-red color this time of year, they have remained stubbornly green.
“They’re beautiful, but they need to turn,” she said. “Here it is already July, and I’m trying to capture the heat.”
As a safeguard to potential crop loss, Presby has insurance through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency. She self-insures, too, by continually planting new vegetables.
“I just keep growing,” Presby said. “If we lose something, we have something else to replace it.”
While Presby said the weather is always unpredictable, she characterized this year as “severe.”
George Hamilton, a University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension field specialist of 27 years who works with fruit and vegetable producers, agreed.
“We’ve been seeing more extreme events,” he said. “It’s wicked dry.”
Hamilton added, “If we don’t get any type of rain in the next seven days to two weeks, it could be quite severe. Farmers don’t have any water resources.”
As part of his job, Hamilton goes out to give farming workshops on drip irrigation and reduced tillage – more efficient ways to get and keep water in soil – and he also communicates with the USDA and the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture to request weather-related disaster declarations.
The declarations, which are filed by Gov. Maggie Hassan and go to the U.S. secretary of agriculture, allow for loan forgiveness and funding to farmers through the USDA Farm Service Agency.
“We have had a declaration due to this past winter,” Hamilton said, referring to the cold snap in February and again in early April.
“That did a lot of damage to peaches,” he said. Apple orchards, too, suffered as a result.
Now, Hamilton is trying to get another declaration for this summer’s drought. In addition, he said, weather stations are being installed in each county so that by this time next year, farmers will have up-to-date information about weather, insect and disease predictions.
Department of Agriculture Commissioner Lorraine Merrill characterized this year’s weather ups and downs – and the risk they present – this way:
“If people find farmers are a little cranky this season, they should cut them some slack,” she said.
A third-generation dairy farmer in Stratham, Merrill said the effects of weather this year are very real.
She is struggling to get a second cut of hay this summer, which could lead to trouble down the road.
“That’s a lot of feed to not have for your animals,” she said. “And it costs a lot of money.”
The money invested in and the inherent value that comes out of agriculture is something that Merrill and others say New Hampshire doesn’t seem to fully grasp.
“Whenever we’re talking about the environmental quality protection and stewardship, the working landscape that I think everyone loves about New Hampshire – they often don’t recognize how much that’s shaped by agriculture,” Merrill said.
She added, “Our Department of Agriculture is much smaller and has much less funding than other state departments of agriculture.”
Vermont’s Agency of Agriculture, for instance, has 110 staff members listed on its website. In New Hampshire – a state of similar size with more than twice the population – the Department of Agriculture only has 34 staff positions listed.
Hudson Republican state Rep. Bob Haefner, chairman of the House Environment and Agriculture Committee, said his panel is trying to both make agriculture more viable and convey its importance to the rest of the Legislature.
“We really do try to promote New Hampshire agriculture,” Haefner said. Unfortunately, he added, “It’s overlooked. It’s not unique to New Hampshire – most of the representatives come from urban areas. I think a lot of people feel their food comes from Hannaford, it’s there and it’ll always be there.”
The committee has in recent years made products like raw milk and homestead foods like jams and homegrown vegetables easier to sell and less regulated.
“Without jeopardizing food safety,” Haefner added. “It’s helping the economy, I hope.”
His committee is now focusing on the new federal regulations being handed down under the Food Safety Modernization Act and, at the same time, trying to support the dairy industry as milk prices continue to drop.
“We’ve lost 10 dairy farms in the past year,” Haefner said. “We can’t afford to lose those.”
In the meantime, committee members talk to their colleagues in the House.
“I don’t think the people in the Legislature pay enough attention to agriculture,” Haefner said.
Presby is spreading the word, one green tomato at a time.
A small basket of them sat out on her farm store counter last Wednesday, a tool she said she uses to educate people about why there aren’t any tomatoes for sale.
“Food is exciting to people,” said Presby. “They ask, ‘Where are the tomatoes?’ They’re aware of not having something that’s part of their tradition. It actually helps bring the conscious awareness to the surface that something’s different.”
She added as more people become aware of local food, where it comes from, and how it may be affected by factors such as drought, a cold spring or more severe weather patterns, people begin to put more value on agriculture itself.
And it’s then, Presby said, that she can start discussing another, still-unsettled point: “We’re talking cause and effect when you’re talking climate change and farming.”
“It’s a growing consciousness,” she said. “If the consciousness of the people is there, the follow up is people want to see those goods.”
But, she said, “it’s a massive undertaking to educate.”
(Elodie Reed can be reached at 369-3306, ereed@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @elodie_reed.)