Farmers at the CNY Regional Market navigate seasonal income and winter work.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – What better way is there to spend a Saturday morning in the summer than to visit your local farmers market? Summer and early fall bring nice weather, outdoor activities and an abundance of quality produce, making farmers markets a popular community outing. However, in a region with such distinct seasons as New York, some farmers struggle to continue producing and selling their harvest through the winter.
The CNY Regional Market is one of the biggest public markets in New York, hosting more than 400 vendors a year. While the market is open year-round, winter can be a challenging time financially for farmers who rely on the market to sell their produce.
“From mid-October until May 1, I don’t have an income,” said mum farmer, Linda Nielsen.
Nielsen works for Abdo’s Garden Market, located in Manlius. When she isn’t spending her Saturdays at the market, her days consist of “pulling mums from the mum field, rearranging the plants that we grow, and cleaning greenhouses.”
However, as the winter approaches, Nielsen notices a change in business.
“It slows down,” Nielsen explains. “And once the mums are gone, then we’re done for the season. Then it’s just a matter of cleaning up and getting ready for the next season.”
Other farmers at the market face a similar decline in winter income. While there are certain crops, such as potatoes and winter squash, that can sustain the season, it ultimately isn’t worth it to sell these during winter months at the market.
“It’s just too much work for two people,” said Melissa Turner, a farmer at Turner Farms. “Winter squash doesn’t always survive the whole winter. It’s better to plan to end in December and get a break.”
Melissa and her father, Bob Turner, own and operate their family farm. Bob has been a vendor at the CNY Regional Market for more than 60 years, always occupying the same corner. Every Saturday morning the Turners haul their produce to Syracuse from the farm in Weedsport. However, for them and other farmers, this is not a year-round endeavor.
“We only come here until the end of October,” another farmer, Roger Darling, explains. “By the first part of December, I’ve sold the bulk of what I had left and I’m done. I don’t need to do this year-round. I don’t want to do this year-round.”
Darling, of Darling Farms, is a retiree from the town Highway Department who has been farming off and on since he was a kid. Now, his days are filled with picking, planting, cultivating, and then some more picking. It is what he describes as “a never-ending battle.”
When the winter rolls around, Darling may not be out in his fields and greenhouses but he certainly keeps busy.
“In the middle of the winter? I don’t sit down,” said Darling. “I work for a guy and I haul firewood for him in a truck.”
Darling is not alone in being a farmer who works a second job in the winter months. Melissa also finds work as a dental hygienist when the farm is sitting idle. However, this doesn’t mean that there isn’t work to be done outside.
“I order seeds and I plan how much I’m going to grow and where,” Melissa explained. “I look at what we grew, how it was the year before, how manageable it was and adjust the numbers so that it’s more manageable for us.”
Melissa, who already seems to be taking on the responsibility of carrying the farm into the next generation, is set to take over Turner Farms whenever her father decides to take a step back. This will continue the tradition just as Bob had taken over the farm from his father. Turner Farms has been making a weekly appearance at CNY Regional Market for several decades now and it does not seem like they will be vacating their corner of the B-Line any time soon.