"These are the times that try mens' souls..." and the weather is not much help either!
The forecast for the week predicts a few more days of possible scattered severe thunderstorms across southern NJ. One just passed through, dropping a half to 2 inches of heavy rain in less than an hour. There's the possibility that hail dropped along this strong front as it went by, but haven't received word yet. We're sitting on thousands of acres of spring greens and herbs ready to harvest and young summer crops just transplanted or emerging. Hail can wreak havoc at this stage of the game making crops at harvest stage unmarketable, and outright killing younger plants. It's too late to replant most of those summer crops at this stage. The heavy rains can flood fields leading to crop losses too.
A farm's sustainability can easily be put in peril by a severe summer storm like this. A profitable or break-even season can be turned into big losses. No income means bills and loans don't get paid. Next season, lenders hesitate to back the operation. In less than an hour, a successful season can literally be washed away.
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It was an not an accident that the 1985 Farm Bill wrote the 3 components of sustainability as Economic first, followed by Environmental and Social goals. Jack and I are going to explore why this three-legged stool won't stand without a strong economic leg that so many seem to ignore. This is a sustainable ag reality check!
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