Drowned lands are truly drowned lands once again

Pine Island — Chris Pawelski has been on his family’s farm out on Pulaski Highway all of his life. He’s been through droughts and floods, pests and disease that have ruined crops. But the effects of Sunday and Monday’s rain is something Pawelski has never seen before. “I have lake front property now,” half-joked Pawelski. “In 1955 we had what they called a 50-year flood. Then, in 2005, we had it again. “Now two years later, we have one that was worse than the other two.” And the water is still rising. Pawelski said that fields that weren’t under water on Tuesday were underwater by Wednesday. Pawelski said he had already planted 36 acres of onions, far less than this time last year when he had 300 acres panted. The cold, wet weather prohibited him from planting sooner this year. But the planning window is a short one — he only has until mid-May to finish planting and still have enough of a growing season to product his onions. And he doesn’t know if the crop already in will survive. “Time will give us the answer to that,” he said. “If the water crests now and it takes three days to recede and three or four more days to dry, I might be in by the 25th. And it will take two weeks to replant the 100 acres already there.” Pawelski said the water can recede without a massive washout. But he also has to worry about the pesticides he’s already treated his fields with. “Will the chemical be so diluted by the water that it doesn’t work anymore?” he asked. The plants could survive the water only to push up and then die from a fungus or a pest, Pawelski said. Pawelski has contacted U.S. John Hall, D-Dover Plains; Hall’s staff, and Pawelski hoped the congressman himself, was scheduled to meet with him on Thursday morning. “He really should see this himself,” said Pawelski. He also left word with the staffs of U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton. “This is unbelievable,” Pawelski said. “This is B-A-D. Bad, in biblical proportions. I’m waiting for the water to turn to blood and the asteroids to start shooting at us, it’s so bad. What else can happen?” Black Dirt farming, by the numbers: Orange County farmers intended to devote 3,500 acres to onion production in 2007. At current market prices of $20 per 50 lbs. and an average yield of 800 50-lb. bags to the acre, the potential value of the Orange County onion crop would be more than $55 million. The Orange County Black Dirt accounts for about half of the onion production in New York State and roughly 6 percent of the nation’s storage onion production. Thousands of acres are devoted to various leafy greens, vegetables and other products sold in various green and farmers markets at a value exceeding $45 million. Sod, pumpkins, and field corn and other crops further represents tens of millions of dollars in crop values. Source: Chris Pawelski