Summer-long heat wave hurts farmers markets across Alabama (H'ville Times)

[eppur_se_muova]

Bob Lowry, The Huntsville Times

MONTGOMERY -- For a while it looked like the annual "Tomato Festival" at the Madison County Farmers Market on Friday might be canceled because of a lack of tomatoes.

The festival will go on, says market manager Andrea Dye, but it won't be as big as in recent years.

The extreme heat wave that has blanketed Alabama since May has hurt growers and farmers markets across the state, says Don Wambles, director of the Alabama Farmers Market Authority.

Dye says her market hasn't had as much produce to sell, even though more shoppers are looking for it.

"A lot of people's gardens are drying up and they come in to look for produce," she said. "But we don't have as much produce going out."
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more: http://blog.al.com/breaking/2010/08/summer-long_heat_wave_hurts_fa.html




Great. So GW is going to make eating local that much harder. :(

[BeFree]

1. Ya gotta wonder

.....if that big bowl of oil just to the south has had any impact on the climate.

[kestrel91316]

2. I'm sure glad GW is just in our imaginations......

[Retrograde]

3. Meanwhile, California is having a very cool summer

We've had some good fruit this year but I have yet to see a decent tomato at the farmers' market.

[tech9413]

4. Too bad you're not in Western PA

I planted a full flat of 30. So far we've canned 36 qt, made a gallon of tomato soup and less than half the fruit has ripened. Every night with dinner we slice up at least two and the salads use another. The heat has been a problem but with a good watering scheme and laying down ground cover to avoid evaporation, they've done well. Anyone who hasn't had a tomato fresh from the vine doesn't know what they're missing.

[B Calm]

6. My tomato plants are 7 to 8 feet high here in Indiana. I have over 40 plants

out and have tomatoes' to throw away. Most of the people around here lost their tomato plants to blight because of all the rain. I sprayed my plants early and are blight free.

[Retrograde]

7. That's right, rub it in :)

I don't know if this is a side effect of overall global warming, but we seem to be one of the few areas that hasn't had the heat, which is not really all that good considering how much of US produce comes from California: I heard a news clip today that claimed the tomato crop's running about a month late - and those are the ones that mostly go into cans. Grape growers are already worrying about whether they'll have fruit ripe enough to harvest before the rains start.

I don't miss the 90-degree plus days (but it's a dry heat and that really makes a difference), but I am concerned if this is a long-term pattern, and what it will end up doing to global food production.

[NutmegYankee]

5. They are great this year in Connecticut.

Granted the highs in the upper 80s for a month sucked royally...

[Radical Activist]

8. People will realize how urgent climate change is when it really hits the food supply.

It would only take a major heat wave in the south and massive flooding in the Midwest during the same season. Plus heavy rains stopping the planting and harvesting seasons. Then people who think we should be more worried about other issues will get it. We came close this year.