Heavy rain this year has caused one local Caledonia farm to lose more than 50 percent of one of its crops. The owner of Sno Pac Foods said the farm has dealt with crop losses in the past five years but this year is the worst he can remember.
Sno Pac's organic frozen vegetables were inspired by his grandpa, Leo Gengler before organic products took off. Pete Gengler: "We have been doing organic frozen vegetables for over 75 years. We were organic before organic was cool.”
Sno Pac has grown into a 3,000-acre operation with Gengler and his brother leading the family business. The food they grow will not fill the orders they need this year. Heavy rain from numerous storms has taken its toll on their mission. More than 500 acres of peas are gone. That's 660 football fields of one crop not including other crop losses.
Machines that are normally running 24/7 sit silent. His workers have had to basically sit idle for two weeks. As a farmer who is used to providing a service for people, he said the hardest part was telling people the news.
“(It was) the calls I was going to have to make telling people we wouldn't have the product for them," he said. "We have had trouble for the last five years with the weather, but this year is definitely the worst."
But Gengler said despite the losses this year, his company is still able to provide food for local farm-to-school programs. He said they are not the only ones in his position. Organic Valley producers also suffered crop loss.
Source: news8000.com