(The Westfield News) – Last summer, a drought swept through Western Massachusetts and a number of other areas in New England.
“The drought on top of it, made the surviving fruit small,” said Tom Bashista, who owns Bashista Orchards in Southampton.
Blossoming Acres in Southwick, also had their own issues with the drought as their yields were down.
“The cost of irrigation was sky high,” said Bober.
Just on the other side of town in Southwick, Calabrese Farms had the same kind of struggles with a lack of yield.
“We had significant yield issues,” said owner Donna Calabrese.
“All our yields were down, everything was so stressed from the drought.” According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, at the start of the water year on Sept. 27, 2016, 100% of Massachusetts was at least abnormally dry, just over 98% was moderately dry, 89% was in severe drought, and 52% of the state was in extreme drought.
“Everything is nice and moist.” With the recent rainfall over the past couple of weeks, farms like Bashista Orchards are certainly hoping for more rain.
“At this point, we could use another week of warm weather,” said Bober.
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