The 2023 production season was extremely challenging for farmers throughout the northeast. Widespread freeze events in February and May caused the greatest fruit crop loss in over 50 years. Stone fruits including peaches, sweet cherries, and plums were lost to the February freeze when temperatures plummeted to -21F in the coldest parts of New Hampshire. Next came a second major freeze event occurring on May 18th during the peak of apple bloom for much of the state. Open blossoms were at their most susceptible stage, and over 1,000 acres of fruit crops were heavily impacted.
2023 turned out to be the wettest year on record, which dates back 129 years, according to the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine. This created many additional challenges for farmers in the state including poor seed germination, extra succession plantings, additional input costs, increased incidence of plant diseases, field accessibility issues, delayed timing of critical field operations, extra labor required to hand harvest, food safety concerns resulting from flooded fields, soil nutrient leaching and delayed ripening of produce.
To measure the impact if these severe weather events on agricultural operations, UNH Extension conducted two surveys asking growers to share their impact estimates regarding acreage impacted, percent crop loss, and estimated values associated with their experienced crop loss. The results of those surveys are available and can be viewed in the 2023 NH Fruit and Vegetable Crop Loss Survey Report by clicking the download resource button above.
