One of the biggest challenges our farmers have to face today is increasingly volatile weather and more extreme events – like floods, hail storms, snow and droughts. These extreme weather events are very costly to our farmers because it causes delays in production and reduction of crop harvest.

Severe rain can lead to huge floods that wipe out farmers’ crops. Unpredictable frost or snow storms can damage crops, especially when it comes at unseasonable times farmers aren’t expecting. That means more weeds, pests and disease. Warmer temperatures can lead to more weeds and new pests that stick around longer. This means most or all crops are damaged and cannot be saved, depending on the situation. Not only does it damage the crops of this season but it can have long term damaging effects to future plantations. Swollen prices is what the consumer has to deal with when extreme weather events happens to these local farms. Which also disrupts food availability, reduce access to food, and huge affects of food quality too.

A few simple ways we can help support the farmers who put food on our table is by shopping at our local Farmers Market, eating at farm-to-table restaurants and shopping at our local grocer instead of chain supermarkets.