Farmers cool to mild winter
'Another couple weeks of warm weather and the trees may think it's spring and begin to bud. That would greatly damage production.' - Peter Gregg The New York Apple Association
By JEFFERY SMITH THE LEADER

Jason Cox/The Leader Larry Majors Jr., left, Aaron Roison, back, vineyard laborers, and Paul Martin, right, vineyard manager, trim Cayuga vines Thursday. It is normal for Vineyards to prune the vines this time of year, but it is usually not done in T-shirts.

Not everyone is happy about the unseasonably warm weather.

Farmers, especially local vintners, are worried that few more weeks of unusually mild temperatures followed by a hard freeze could wreak havoc on their crops.

The weather has been cold enough to keep grape vines, apple trees and strawberry plants dormant. But a few more weeks of warmth could wake plants prematurely, said Jim Grace, director of farm business management at the Cornell Cooperative Extension.

"There is a concern," said Paul Thomas, spokesman for the Seneca Lake Wine Association. "The industry is very much hoping for a gradual decline in temperature to what I would call more normal winter."

James Trezise, president of the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, said vines will be vulnerable to frostbite if they start to bud.

"If that happens, it would hurt the yield," Trezise said. "It's hard to speculate how much, but it would be very harmful."

Trezise said unseasonably warm winter weather cut wine production nearly 40 percent in 2004 and 2005.

Workers in local vineyards were pruning vines Thursday afternoon, not a normal winter job.

"The weather has been great," Thomas said. "But I think all in all we'd like a more normal season."

Peter Gregg, a spokesman at for the New York Apple Association, said apple growers are also hoping for cold weather to set in.

"The warm weather is a concern," Gregg said. "Another couple weeks of warm weather and the trees may think it's spring and begin to bud. That would greatly damage production."

It has already been warm enough to start maple sap flowing.

Charles Emerson, a veteran Southern Tier syrup maker, said he's getting calls from other producers wondering whether to gamble and tap early.

A couple of producers have reportedly already tapped.

Emerson is sticking to his target of setting his 2,500 taps in Alfred Station the week of Feb. 12 - about three weeks earlier in the season than when he started in the business four decades ago.

"I've been making syrup since 1966," he said, "and what's happening with these warming winters are a real concern."

Maple farmers point out that last winter was also unusually warm, and there was little detriment to crops.

Temperatures are expected to remain unusually warm through Sunday, before turning colder next week.