WEATHER AND ADEQUATE LABOR---THE TWO BIG CONCERNS
LOCAL AGRICULTURE BUSY PREPARING---AND HOPEFUL---FOR 2017 FARMING SEASON
Henderson county apple grower Kenny Barnwell told WHKP News “I am concerned about having adequate labor every year.” Barnwell spoke with WHKP News about two major issues facing local agriculture---unpredictable and possibly devastating spring weather, and having adequate farm labor.
How the Trump Administration will handle the immigration issue and un-documented workers, mostly from Mexico, who plant, care for, and then harvest every local crop from berries to apples remains unclear. And growers are always concerned about ICE, or the Immigration Customs Enforcement people, swooping in on their fields and sending their labor back across the border.
Vegetable grower Kirby Johnson, who grows here in the summer and in Florida in the winter, says concern over labor is why he cut back last years, and will be cutting back some this year, on the total acres he’s farming.
Weather is the other big issue facing local growers. Kenny Barnwell, who grows both apples and peaches, says if the temperatures get too warm and the young apples begin to “bud” too soon, a late season frost or freeze can kill an entire crop. Normally, says Barnwell, local apple trees will begin to bloom by the first of April and will be in full bloom sometime in the first two weeks of April.
A value of $40 million was placed on Henderson County’s apple crop last years…which was described as “…not a full crop, but a good crop.”
Kirby Johnson says the abnormally warm winter has been a big concern for him and other vegetable growers and he’s hoping for more cold weather to slow things down some. He’s also worried about some predictions that this year may be a dry summer.
Johnson, who will be growing hundreds of acres of mixed tomatoes, beans, peppers and other vegetables in Henderson County, mostly in Mills River, this year…says all of his products are available at Ingles and Publix food stores…and of course at the Johnson Family Farm on Kanuga Road.
A lot more is grown and farmed in Hendersonb County, too...everything from livestock to herbs to plants and flowers, even Christmas trees. Complete information, and where to buy it all, is available at southernmountainfresh.comn.
By WHKP News Director Larry Freeman 10am 02/13./17
