Dave Hunsberger’s non-GMO corn almost did not make it through mid-June. “We were on the cusp of, will it grow with the rain, or will it need to be replanted?” he says.

Thankfully, the rains came just in time. Corn growth exploded, although his stands look very uneven. It has been that type of year for Hunsberger on his Happy Hollow Farm just outside Mifflintown, Pa.

Like most growers, he has had to adjust to sudden changes brought on by Mother Nature. Most notably, he took out 40 acres of what would have been corn and instead planted grain sorghum. His soils normally do not hold much water, so he is trying more sorghum as an alternative, as it is resilient in hot and dry conditions.

UNEVEN CORN: The non-GMO corn Hunsberger is growing almost did not make it earlier this season. With the recent rains, corn growth has exploded, although his stands look very uneven.

He is growing 60 acres of iGrowth sorghum that will be marketed through a firm in Berks County that will sell it for birdseed this fall.

The sorghum was planted in 15-inch rows in barley stubble. Hunsberger did it this way thinking that he would get better weed control in the tighter rows. He then applied Dual as a post-plant preemergence herbicide.

Then, Mother Nature’s spicket turned off. The herbicide did not get much-needed rain to get it into the soil and activate. In fact, his place did not get any rain for the entire month of May and well into June.

“When the rain finally came, everything came,” including many more weeds, Hunsberger says, adding that he had to use a rescue spray to save the crop. “This is what happens when you use preemergent herbicides in a drought,” he adds.

But the rains did come in time for the sorghum to take off, even though the crop is known to handle heat and dry weather well. He has also managed to get multiple cuttings of hay, a big difference from early June.

“The July 4 cut was third cut; it was really dry until about June 18,” Hunsberger says. “Stuff wasn’t growing, nothing, and now it is either knee-high or 10 inches in the same row.”

Hunsberger is in the middle of transforming his farm, an effort he started in 2019 when he sold his dairy cows in September of that year. At its peak, he milked 240 cows. He used to grow nearly 400 acres to feed the animals, but he has downsized to about 325 acres — mostly hay, non-GMO corn, barley and sorghum.

TRANSFORMING FARM: Dave Hunsberger, owner of Happy Hollow Farm, is transforming his former dairy farm, an effort he started in 2019 when he sold his cows in September of that year. At its peak, he milked 240 cows. He used to grow nearly 400 acres to feed the animals, but he has downsized to about 325 acres — mostly hay, non-GMO corn, barley and sorghum.

The remnants of the old dairy, including the swing-16 milking parlor, are still there. One of the barns he now uses to background beef cattle for Wild Rose Horse and Cattle Co. in Dry Run, Pa. He feeds anywhere from 235 to 250 cattle at any time. The cattle come in, get weighed and are weighed again once they are shipped out for finishing. Hunsberger gets paid the difference for weight gained.

Hunsberger says he does not regret trying something new, even though he considers growing this year’s sorghum a learning experience.

“Yes, I’m pleased that I decided to grow grain sorghum this year,” he says. “I wish that I had more than one grain bid so that I wasn’t locked into a single grain cash market, but I needed to try it one time and see what happens.”

Life is peachy

How are the tree fruits growing in Dave Wenk’s orchards? “They are actually doing well,” he says. “Things are sizing. We have received enough rain recently. Everything is early.”

Wenk owns Three Springs Farm in Gardners, Pa. — where he grows 236 acres of apples, 48 acres of peaches, 4 acres of pears, and smaller acreages of tart and sweet cherries, and various other fruits.

It has been a challenging season. First, an early spring brought fears of frost and freeze damage. Then, it was the early drought. It got so bad, he says, that he had to irrigate his earliest peaches, something he has never done before.

PLENTY OF PEACHES: Devastating cold snaps this spring knocked out much of Georgia and South Carolina’s peach crops. It’s raised demand for locally grown peaches, like these peaches grown at Three Springs Farm in Gardners, Pa.

The good news is that demand for fresh-market peaches is high, thanks to the misfortune brought upon growers in Georgia and South Carolina, some of whom lost entire crops because of early-season cold snaps in the South.

The bad news: His picking crew has been stretched thin, picking up to 8 acres at a time as the crop has been ripening much earlier than normal. About a quarter of his peach crop is already harvested, and he estimates the entire crop will be done by Labor Day, two weeks earlier than usual.

Apples are sizing nicely, Wenk says, but the crop is heavy. “We are having to do follow-up hand thinning,” he says. “The first variety in volume is two or three weeks out, Wildfire Gala. Premier Honeycrisp, with a lot of acres, is three weeks out.”

He estimates that he will need a full picking crew of 28 workers to get all the orchards picked. That includes 15 H2A workers he is scheduled to get by Aug. 15. But the past two years, those workers have arrived late, largely because of processing delays by the federal government.

“If they are not there, the guys doing the peaches, about 20 to 25 guys, will be doing it,” Wenk says. “It’s going to be a lot of work for them. We’re just juggling a lot of peaches.”