Agriculture is Pennsylvania’s number one industry, contributing $135 billion to the economy and 579,000 direct and indirect jobs to its residents. So when there is significant variation in the weather, it can be cause for concern.

Such has been the case this year. Since April 1, 41 inches of rain have fallen in the Lehighton area, compared to the average rainfall during that period of 25 inches. That represents a 60 percent increase over the norm.

“The rain is on every grower’s mind,” said Dwane Miller, extension educator at the Penn State Extension in Jim Thorpe. “The excess water, combined with the humidity, can cause a number of problems — white mold, downy mildew, early blight, septoria.”

According to Mark Heckman, who owns Heckman Orchards in Effort, along with his brother, Lynn, the rain is a blessing to some crops and a curse to others.

“The peaches, apples and tomatoes love the rain. The only problem we’re having with apples and tomatoes is splitting. They absorb too much moisture and the skin can’t expand any more.” Heckman said that is a very minor problem for his farm.

The real problem has been with the farm’s vegetables, he said. “Anything that lies on the ground — cantaloupes, cucumbers — that’s where the problems are,” Heckman noted. “We lost about 25 percent of our cucumbers this year,” he said, though cucumbers represent a very small part of his business.

Heckman estimates that his business is down by about half compared to last year. He is hopeful for a dry autumn.

“It makes up about a third of our yearly business.”

Heckman’s is popular for its apples, pumpkins and cider during the autumn months.

Leroy Graver of Graver’s Orchards says the farm lost at least half of its crop of Honeycrisp apples, a variety he calls hard to grow.

“With all the moisture, many of the Mutsu (apples) are on the ground. They got too heavy for their stems,” he said.

Graver cited Cortland apples as one variety that did well.

“Rain affects our employees, too,” Heckman said.

“They lose hours when we can’t harvest. Plus, when it’s raining, fewer people come to the store, so our store employees lose hours, as well.”

Graver says some of the crop losses are due to the fact that they can’t get them picked in time.

The rain has not only caused crop losses, it has also driven up costs because more crop treatments are necessary.

“We’re paying $600 per quart for weed killer for corn and $400 per pound for treatments for the apple trees and then the constant rain just washes it off. Then we have to reapply it. That gets expensive,” he said.

But Graver and Heckman agreed that their losses and struggles this year won’t have an effect on prices.

There are 791 farms in Schuylkill County, accounting for 105,749 acres of land. In Carbon County, 21,162 acres of farmland are spread out among 195 farms. Combined, the farms in those two counties produce more than $175 million in product annually.

“Despite the troubles this year, farmers are optimistic,” Miller said. “They are eager to wrap up this year’s harvest and plan for 2019.”