Freezing temperatures last spring left crop-growers in Chippewa County and those in nine other western Wisconsin counties with less-than-adequate seasons this year.
Gov. Scott Walker asked the USDA for a disaster declaration for 10 western Wisconsin counties, including Chippewa, Eau Claire, Trempealeau and Jackson, that were hit hard by a mid-May frost. The temperatures that fell as low as 25 degrees May 13-14, damaged fruit crops such as grapes, berries and apples, along with asparagus and hops.
Wayne Geist, owner of Bushel and A Peck Market in Chippewa Falls, said their orchard lost three-fourths of its crop due to frost damage, affecting all apple varieties they grow in the orchard.
“It took 75 percent of our possibility of having a successful season away,” he said. “Luckily there was enough activity at the orchard that we were able to sell everything locally out of our store.”
Geist and his wife, Lisa, have owned the orchard for three years, and he said two of those have seen damage due to weather. The other happened in early summer of 2015, when hail damaged around 50 percent of its crop.
Still, Geist considers them to be lucky this year.
“It sounds crazy, but we were able to have 25 percent of our crop,” he said. “There were some who lost 100 percent.”
Jerry Clark, a UW-Extension agricultural agent, estimated Chippewa County saw upwards of a 50-60 percent crop loss across some farms, with some areas experiencing nearly 80 percent or higher loss. Apples, blueberries and strawberries were the most affected crops.
He estimated some apple varieties lost as much as 80-100 percent because they were either flowering at the wrong time or in a lower location that allowed the frost to settle..
“It was geographically centered as you look at the orchards — mostly that area by Lafayette and up through Holcombe,” Clark said. “When you get down to those low temps, it doesn’t take very long to cause problems.”
Along with a sizable apple and berry crop, Chippewa County is participating in a $250,000 Clean Hop Project with UW-Extension, studying how six varieties of hops fare in the local soil. Frost delayed the harvest of hops this year as farmers had to cut back the two weeks of growth damaged by the freezing temperatures, which could have resulted in up to a 20-percent loss in quality of the flowering buds that are used in beer making.
Fortunately, vegetables and most field crops weren’t growing yet or had just been planted, meaning it was early enough for them to recover.
Clark also heard a number of strawberry growers applied water overnight to keep them from freezing, which seemed to help.
If the USDA grants Walker’s Disaster Designation request, Clark said orchards like Geist’s will most likely have the opportunity to apply for a low-interest loan.
Source - http://chippewa.com
