Business & Tech
In Season: Corn on Time for the Fourth of July
Local corn is coming in at farm stands on the North Fork and Riverhead, just in time for the long weekend.
Each season, a local benchmark for farmers is getting corn for the fourth of July. And local corn, there will be.
Joe Gergela, executive director of the Long Island Farm Bureau, said that some corn started being pulled off the stalks as early as last week. With the help of row covers in the plants' early stages, Gergela said, a warmer climate is created around the young seeds as they sprout.
Bay View Farms in Jamesport is pulling corn off their stalks on Wednesday, and at Harbes, their own corn will be here for the weekend.
In Riverhead, Anderson's Farm is currently supplying some other local stands, including Schmitt's which is expecting to get theirs in early next week. Mill Road Farm and Fox Hollow Farm just started picking their own as well.
While heavy rains earlier this month put a damper on the growing season for some crops, for corn, the extra water meant adding fertilizer – which was frequently washed away – said Jeff Rottkamp of Fox Hollow Farms on Sound Avenue.
"Like my father used to say: 'Do you like to eat two to three times a day?' So does food," he said.
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