One quick bout of August hail is making a lasting impression in some parts of Connecticut.
One quick bout of August hail is making a lasting impression in some parts of Connecticut.
Gouveia Vineyards in Wallingford is cancelling their Annual Harvest event because marble-sized hail wrecked the canopy and soiled grapes on the vines.
"When they start to rot the birds and bugs and everything they come for dinner,” Jim Gatcomb of Gouveia Vineyards said.
Gatcomb said usually the grapes would be ready for harvest and celebration around this time of year. Instead, he said they need to take inventory and see how bad the damage is – or is not.
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“We'll go through what we can salvage from the vines - we don’t know how big it’s gonna be, how small it's gonna be,” Gatcomb said.
The Department of Agriculture said they received four reports of damage from this August hailstorm, but they believe there are more farms impacted.
“We are seeing some reports coming in from our orchards on a small, more minimal scale, also some substantial losses from vegetable producers. We have one farm who's reported losses, not only of their vegetables, but also some of their livestock,” Rebecca Eddy of the Department of Agriculture said.
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The state encourages growers to report damage and locally and federally, which could trigger some financial help.
“If there is enough data to support a secretarial disaster declaration that we are able to move forward with making that request, which would then trigger some financial incentives for those farmers to help them recoup from those losses,” Eddy said.
Despite wacky weather, the state said this is looking like a fairly strong harvest year.
Gatcomb and his team are optimistic, too, for a fruitful fall.
“We’re not down and out,” Gatcomb said.
After such unpredictable weather, the state said the best way you can support small Connecticut farms is by going out and enjoying them through the harvest season.
