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Nora Trueblood, Editor
Director ALC MarCom
4529 Angeles Crest Hwy., Suite 101 La Caņada, CA 91011
(800) 475-5863 - Office
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Wicked Dry: The New England Rain Dance
It's no secret; it's wicked hot. According to scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, each of the first six months of 2016 set a record as the warmest respective month in the modern temperature record, which dates back to 1880. In fact, July and August were the two hottest months that have ever been measured. Consequently, it is probably not shocking that many Americans are experiencing drought scenarios that exceed anything in recent memory. While everyone is seemingly aware of the historic drought on the West Coast, the Northeast is experiencing an extreme lack of precipitation that has prompted many farmers and business owners to sound the alarm.
The drought is at the forefront of the minds of many New Englanders, as scores of homeowners from Vermont to Connecticut with empty shallow wells have in the past month found themselves depending on alternative means to bathe, cook, and drink. The Environmental Protection Agency states about 2.3 million people, or 20 percent of the New England population, get their water from private wells. While this issue is of serious concern on its own, perhaps an issue having more far-reaching implications is that according to the USDA, New England is home to more than 175,000 farms that produce more than $21 billion a year in food, hay, and flowers, all of which require lots of water.
The statistical data is staggering. More than 98 percent of Massachusetts is experiencing a "moderate" drought or worse, and the remaining bit of the state is "abnormally dry," according to the US Drought Monitor. More than 1.05 million Mainers are now living in drought conditions, according to the updated model from the U.S. Drought Monitor, which is 79 percent of the state's 1.33 million residents. The picture does not look any rosier in the rest of New England. Farmers are reporting small crop harvests with the season ending sooner than usual. There have also been several reports of trucking water to remote fields when water sources are depleted, employing other creative forms of engineering, and even utilizing volunteer "bucket brigades," in order to get water to their crops. Investing in irrigation systems that are usually unnecessary, combined with other costs associated with acquiring water drives operating costs up, while yielding a smaller harvest overall. The apple, a benchmark New England crop is expected to decrease in volume harvested by 15% to drought. A basic analysis of supply and demand would tell us that this may drive prices higher, but that will remain to be seen.
Produce farmers are not the only ones reeling from the drought's effects. In these arid conditions, dairy farms are quickly using up their homegrown feed crops like hay, which means many of them must pay a high price to haul in feed from other farms throughout the country. "To be running out of feed in the Fall is just unheard of, but that's what's happening on several farms," Lorraine Merrill, the commissioner of the N.H. Department of Agriculture, said. Dairy farmers are already hurting from low milk prices this year, and with the drought inflicting an even deeper strain upon these farms, many conventional dairy farms in the state have gone out of business. "Nineteen of the 120 conventional dairy farms in New Hampshire have closed in 2016."
The federal government has designated many New England counties "primary natural disaster areas" and will allow farmers access to low interest emergency loans from the USDA's Farm Service Agency. While this may serve to mitigate some short term losses for farmers, many are concerned that these loans will be ineffective if the drought persists into next year. Additionally, the drought has contributed to wild fires, an outbreak of gypsy moths, higher rates of ant infestation, an elevated population of mosquitoes able to carry West Nile virus, and is threatening to disrupt the region's Fall foliage season that is so important to the tourism industry. Compounded upon the problems of smaller than usual crops, loss of crops, and a shortage of cattle feed, it is fair to say that New England farmers are struggling harder than the Tom Brady-less New England Patriots. However, even as this article is being written, there has been a prediction that New England will be hit by the remnants of hurricane Matthew, bringing much needed precipitation to the region. So get out there and do your best rain dance for New England! We would appreciate it a-wicked-lot.
Mike Neivert, ALC Boston
mike.neivert@allenlund.com
800.993.5863
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Mike Neivert attended Wheaton College where his focus was International Relations and Economics. Neivert began his career in transportation with the Allen Lund Company in 2013.
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About Allen Lund Company: Specializing as a national third-party transportation broker with nationwide offices, the Allen Lund Company works with shippers and carriers across the nation to transport dry, refrigerated (specializing in produce), and flatbed freight; additionally, the Allen Lund Company has an international division, which is licensed by the FMC as an OTI-NVOCC #019872NF, and a logistics and software division, ALC Logistics.
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