• Tweet
• Share
• Email
• Print

"The most berries we've had on the bush; best crop we've had in years."

Tammy Myers is talking about her blueberry crop at Bob's Blueberries in Leoni Township. She's had a fantastic first few weeks of the season, but there's still a ways to go to get to Labor Day: the end of the growing season.

"I think we will see the season extended if we get that rain," continued Myers. Just like her, most of Michigan's blueberry farmers use their own form of irrigation to water their plants, instead of depending on mother nature.

Michigan's Climatologist Jeff Andresen says most farmers don't have an irrigation system, because they usually don't need one, and installing one just for this drought would be too expensive: "These types of conditions are relatively rare, so one would hope that it would be sometime into the future before we saw anything like this again."

It's unlikely most of the crops will be saved, because even if we do get a lot of rain soon, it won't help; we need consistent rain to nurse most of the corn, cherry, peach, apple, alfalfa, etc. back to health.

"Without any changes, that will likely get worse, or deteriorate before it gets better unfortunately," continued Andresen.

Still, Myers believes she will pull through this one with the water she has left, saying next year, she'll be even better prepared: "I think next year we'll have a well out here to irrigate."