Vermont orchards have suffered significant yield losses during the fall due to unfavorable growing conditions.
What's happening?
According to Cape, Coast, & Islands NPR stations, an especially wet spring followed by a drought has caused a 50% drop in Cortland Hill Orchard's apple production.
The owner said it was the lightest yield in over 60 years of working on the farm. The plum crop suffered from the rainy weather, too.
Other farmers in the region reported similar results. Rooty's Apple Orchard in Newport was also down to about half what it normally gets from 250 trees.
Excessive rain when flowers were blooming meant pollinators didn't have a chance to do their work. Since then, drought conditions have made it hard for the fruit to grow.
Farmers in Kentucky, Virginia, and North Carolina have also reported poor performance in 2025 due to the challenging weather.
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Why are reduced crop yields concerning?
Ongoing increases in atmospheric pollution have exacerbated destructive weather patterns like the rainy seasons and droughts that are afflicting Vermont farmers.
Other crops worldwide have had to deal with fungal infections from excess moisture and, at other times, a lack of water. Either way, the end result has often been price rises at grocery stores.
Vermont state climatologist Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux pointed to both short- and long-term changes in growing conditions.
"We're in both a flash drought, which started in June, July, but we're also in a longer-term drought that started back last year," she said, per CAI.
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Planting flowers 🌷 "Every month, every day, every year brings you that additional data point, that helps you to understand a little better what the changing climate signal looks like."
What can be done about the reduced apple yields?
Luckily the rough weather hasn't entirely wiped out Vermont's apple business. Later-maturing varieties of apples have been able to dodge the conditions, provided warm days and cool nights continue.
"Be it a miracle or be it good fortune, it's better than we thought," said Greg Burtt of Burtt's Apple Orchard, per CAI.
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