CONNECTICUT, USA — Although Connecticut has seen a bit of rainfall over the last few days, much of the state is still dealing with the impacts of moderate to severe drought conditions.
Whittle’s Willow Spring Farm in Mystic has relied on irrigation to get them through the season with the lack of rain.
Rick Whittle co-owns Whittle’s Willow Spring Farm in Mystic with his uncle, William. With his son's help, the farm has now been in the family for five generations.
“This would be a total disaster without our own water,” Whittle said.
He gets the water from a nearby pond and sends it over to produce fields with a system of irrigation pipes.
“It didn’t rain for weeks and weeks and weeks so we have a large irrigation system. Normally, you put it all together, you run it for 5-6 days, you can pick it up and put it all away. This year we ran it for 33 days straight,” Whittle said.
The lack of water would have a much larger impact on his corn fields without irrigating their own water. He showed us the difference between corn that the irrigation system watered versus corn stalks that the water couldn't reach, which had much smaller ears of corn on those stalks.
Whittle said his apple fields also suffered.
“There’s apples on the ground," He said. "The crows are eating the apples at the tops of the trees.”
He said recent rain will help later crops, but it’s still dry. Whittle said they put away their irrigation materials for now and are hoping they won’t have to bring them out for the rest of the season.
Much of the state faced moderate to severe drought conditions this summer. Because of the drought, the USDA recently designated New London County as a primary natural disaster area. It is one of five counties where farmers are able to apply for financial assistance and loans from the government.
“Emergency loans to help offset any losses or inability to pay their employees because they haven’t sold as much as they thought they would or the need to bring in feed or haul water in," Connecticut Agricultural Commissioner Bryan P. Hurlburt said.
Elisha Machado is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at emachado@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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