Kersbergen speaks with BDN about challenges farmers face during wet spring
Richard Kersbergen, a University of Maine Cooperative Extension professor based in Waldo County, spoke with the Bangor Daily News for an article about how unusually wet conditions and cold temperatures in the first half of May pose challenges for Maine farmers. “The calendar is behind for the growers,” Kersbergen said. “We’re two weeks behind, and that’s going to push things back. There’s a lot of fields that farmers can’t even work right now because they’re just too wet, and it’s really going to crunch their time budgeting.” He said vegetable growers and other farmers across the state have anxiously awaited the period of sun and warmer temperatures, which began Tuesday and is predicted to last for four days or so. However, the rain is recharging wells and refilling bodies of water that suffered under the 2016 drought, the article states. “That’s a silver lining,” Kersbergen said. “But in terms of crop development, I don’t see a silver lining to this. It really is going to be a very hectic time for producers. … It’s a battle right now, that’s for sure.”