ICYMI: Baltimore Banner, “Heat and drought threaten Maryland farmers as grain prices plummet”

ICYMI: Baltimore Banner, “Heat and drought threaten Maryland farmers as grain prices plummet”

DAVIDSONVILLE, MD – Several Maryland Farm Bureau (MDFB) members, including MDFB President Jamie Raley, Howard County Farm Bureau President Leslie BauerAnne Arundel County Farm Bureau Member Bob Chase, and Baltimore County Farm Bureau President Jonathan Albright, were recently featured in a Baltimore Banner article discussing the drought conditions affecting Maryland.

If Bob Chase were a gambling man, he’d bet his livelihood on sweet corn.

For 63 years, the farmer has protected the grain: building fences to ward off hungry deer and dedicating more than half his land to growing it. In recent years, he said he and his wife, Margie, planted up to 100 acres of sweet corn across their Anne Arundel County farm.Now he worries most of their corn won’t survive the summer.

“It’s just gone. There’s a stalk there, but it’s all brown and burnt up,” Chase said.

Chase’s Produce in Davidsonville is one of thousands of Maryland farms suffering from weeks of over 90-degree heat and a three-year drought that even heavy spring rains could not cure, according to the Maryland Farm Bureau. The volatile weather is stunting crops, bleeding farms of the revenue needed to stay afloat through harvest.

Farmers like Chase are expecting the tightest squeeze as produce withers, the cost to import grain climbs and the price set to sell the crop plummets to pandemic-era levels. The Banner spoke to multiple farmers in the state who described the especially difficult conditions this year.

The dying crops could mean fewer options at farmers markets and grocery stores but also far-reaching implications for the state. Corn, soybeans and wheat make up the backbone of Maryland agriculture — the state’s largest source of commerce — and play a critical role in feeding a poultry industry that contributes billions to the economy.

“Drought doesn’t discriminate. This affects all of agriculture,” said Jamie Raley, president of the Maryland Farm Bureau.

Crop insurance can be life-saving for farms watching their produce dwindle, Raley said. The federal program, which compensates farms for the loss of certain crops, may be able to provide further relief to farmers if Congress passes a new farm bill by Sept. 30 — but Raley is doubtful.

A spokesperson for the regional U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency office, which administers the insurance, declined to comment on the breadth of the losses or its impact on insurance premiums at this point in the growing season.

Grains have been the most common Maryland crop insured in the last three years, with the most indemnities, or compensation delivered to farmers for losses, being paid out for corn, according to USDA data.

Chase never expected to need crop insurance. During the normal seasons, he said, the farm lost at most $1,000 worth of crops a year. This summer, he said he’s lost 25 times that on sweet corn alone.

Half of the corn Chase planted has died, he said. He described the vegetable as singed and faded brown, with some green stalks stunted by dry soil and struggling to pollinate in the heat.

He said he’s never seen heat or a drought like this before. Over the years, he says, its been getting hotter earlier, pushing growing season into April.

“If we can just break even I’ll be happy, which is not a good thing … but right now we’re way off.”

Chase and his wife have another few weeks to plant sweet corn, but they have started relying on shipping the crop from the Eastern Shore,which is expensive, considering he will need to sell his produce when prices are at a four-year low.

As of Tuesday, the Chicago Board of Trade, which sets prices on produce, had farmers across the country selling corn at $4.14, which is half of what it was 10 years ago, according to Leslie Bauer, who owns Rural Rhythm Farm in Dayton,and represents the Howard County Farm Bureau.

The volatilitykeeps Bauer up at night as she tries to manage her 775-acre farm, split between about 600 acres of grain and 175 acres for livestock and other produce.

“It’s too depressing to think about,” she said. “You take a beating, and you hope next year will be better.”

Crunching the numbers has been overwhelming, Bauer said. She said she has some crop insurance and planted her grain later in the season than Chase, but she still expects to lose up to $11,000 on wheat, which she grows in part for Rye Sagamore Whiskey.

Bauer said she has seen similar, if not worse, losses across the area.

Stalks shrank, kernels burned and soybeans shriveled, leaving people wondering whether they will be able to pay the bills, Bauersaid. The rising costs are taking a toll on farmers’ mental health, and suicide rates among producers are up to five times the national average.

“Most working people get an annual pay raise. This year, we don’t get a raise; we get a pay cut,” Bauer said.

The only solution seems to be more diversification, according to Jonathan Albright, who owns Albright Farms in Phoenix, and represents the Baltimore County Farm Bureau. He said his farm is generating revenue from a widerarray of crops and taking over more aspects of production, eliminating the need for suppliers and high shipping costs.

Compared to others, he said, the damage has been less severe. Still, the heat and dry soil are stifling his corn, causing smaller ears and stressing his cows, which Albright said are producing less dairy.

When it’s time for harvest, they’re not going to make their money back because of this weather, he said.

“It’s going to be a rough year for a lot of people.”

Matti GellmanThe Baltimore Banner

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