The hand-lettered sign beckons drivers to Hoffman's Produce on busy Route 222 near Snyder Road in Maidencreek Township: "CORN Fresh Produce."
Stand operator Dean Hoffman had hoped to open at the end of June to get a jump on selling local sweet corn that customers crave. He's usually one of the first stands to open in Berks County.
But the weather has not cooperated this year. He had to wait.
"We just felt like the corn wasn't ready enough," said Hoffman, who plants 15 acres of corn in the spring under clear plastic, which controls moisture and traps heat. "With the holiday coming it takes a lot of corn and we didn't want to sell for two hours and then shut down."
That traditional harbinger of summer — early local sweet corn — may be a little harder to find this year and more expensive. You can blame frosts in April and May in rural areas and the coronavirus.
But farmers say they expect the local crop in southeastern Pennsylvania to be plentiful later in July.
"It was too cold," Hoffman said. "We had some frost mornings. The crop looks good. It's just delayed."
Kirk Fisher who runs Fisher's Produce in Oley said wholesale prices are as high as he's seen for years.
"There's just not a lot out there," Fisher said of the local wholesale markets. "I would tell people: If they want to eat sweet corn, if they see they better buy it."
Some stands are limiting how many ears customers can buy.
"What happened this year was that we had a delayed spring," said Andrew Frankenfield, a Penn State extension agriculture educator based Montgomery County. "April was cool and wet. We had freeze events mid-month and in mid-May."
Farmers who plant under plastic struggled with very windy days in May as well. Those plastic coverings can be like huge sails if wind kicks them up, he said.
"It was a struggle and we lost some of that early corn," said Frankenfield, who also farms about 200 acres near Souderton, Montgomery County.
Frankenfield said retail prices are as high as $1 an ear. Typically they are about 50 cents an ear, he said.
Some farmers grow corn in trays in a greenhouse before transferring the plants to the field under plastic in the spring just to get that Fourth of July corn that brings in good revenue. Farmers plant about 15,000-20,000 corn plants an acre, he said.
Frankenfield plants seeds directly in the ground so his corn will be later. He expects to have corn by July 20.
Weather matters
An informal survey conducted by Pennsylvania Farm Bureau found that expected harvest times for corn on the cob vary by region.
Farmers surveyed who are expecting a later sweet corn crop this year said that is largely due to cold weather in April and May, especially a mid-May snowfall that affected the western and northern parts of the state.
However, some farmers in those areas most affected by the cold weather were able to move up harvest through strategies such as planting under plastic or cloth. The bureau specifically heard from farmers in Blair, Bucks, Butler, Lehigh, Susquehanna, Warren, Westmoreland and York counties.
Other factors, such as planting methods, also contribute to when farms will have sweet corn available. Pennsylvania has the most farms of any state that sell directly to customers through onsite stores, roadside stands, farmers markets, community supported agriculture (CSAs), and more, according to bureau President Rick Ebert.
From Dixie
Some farm markets and roadside stands in Pennsylvania typically do not have locally grown sweet corn available until at least the middle of July (especially farms located in the northern part of the state), but they may have corn available to sell from other parts of Pennsylvania or a southern state.
The corn in Berks County-based Redner's Markets Inc. is coming from the South.
"We have not yet received any local corn as it is not yet ready," said Eric White, marketing director. "Most of our local product when it comes into season is local from Fisher’s in Oley and Finks in Macungie. We will source local corn from Delaware and Maryland farms as well for our stores in those states."
Frankenfield and White said the supply of sweet corn from southern states has been impacted by coronavirus.
"From what we are told less acreage was planted as growers were leery about sweet corn consumption, they did plant other crops that they saw to be a little more financially stable," White said. "Prices from Florida and Georgia were trending very similar to last year and availability was not a problem. Demand seemed to be trending higher as this early corn is typically great eating and this year was no exception."
White said the increased demand and reduction in acreage was not a problem until Father’s Day approached when Florida was tapped out and Georgia had the uncommon task to begin shipping earlier than normal. Georgia, with the reduction in acreage due to COVID-19 and undeterred demand, finished up prematurely early.
White said a tropical storm passed by the Southeast abnormally early this year. While it didn’t cause any newsworthy attention it did ‘lay over’ hundreds of acres of corn.
"While Georgia, on a typical year, may have stretched out supply, I don’t think they would have bridged it completely," White said. "The gap we are experiencing now leans more toward a wet spring that prevented farmers from planting and from the cooler spring preventing the plants from growing."
Delaware is expecting good production by somewhere around July 7, White said. The majority of Berks County growers are hoping for somewhere between the 10th and the 14th.
Rain needed, now
Lehigh County farmers are hoping for July 30 for good production, said White.
"This could all be moved up a bit if we have a more favorable climate," White said. "Corn loves sunshine and warm temperatures, much like everyone does, and this spring really didn’t provide for much of either."
Sunshine and heat have been on the menu for nearly two weeks and it looks like that pattern will continue.
Now farmers are saying what they really need is more rain.
"Sometimes good things are worth waiting for," Hoffman told his customers in a Facebook post. "And Mother Nature always has the last say."
Where to find local corn:
Penn State Extenstion has a market finder at https://extension.psu.edu/farm-market-finder
Berks County markets can be located on this list or this map online:
The Link LonkJuly 05, 2020 at 02:30AM
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Here's why local sweet corn may be harder to find and more expensive - Reading Eagle
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