Sunburned apples among problems for Massachusetts farmers 'pushed to the limit' by severe drought

TYNGSBORO - It is crunch time for farmers throughout the state. They need rain, and a lot of it, to keep from losing their crops as they approach the end of summer harvest. 

Parlee Farms in Tyngsboro harvests flowers, corn, apples, blueberries and more on its roughly 100 acres of land. But that land is dry, and their irrigation system is working around the clock to keep crops alive. 

On Thursday, the area became designated as experiencing "severe drought."

"When we hit these droughts, everything is pushed to the limit," said farm co-owner Mark Parlee. "The farmer is pushed to the limit the equipment is pushed to the limit." 

Parlee said his farm has miles of tubing running under his crops to irrigate them and keep everything alive. He said it has been running 24/7 by pulling water from a pond on the property and dropping water at the base of each plant or tree. 

"Last Sunday, it was like 95 degrees with a 30 mile per hour wind. It was like being in a convection oven," said Parlee. "It was drying things out so fast that I couldn't keep up." 

It's been so hot at the farm the apples have been getting sunburned.

"115 degree surface temperature makes it do that," Parlee said, pointing to a damaged apple.

Parlee said they need a soaking ran. The sporadic afternoon showers are not cutting it. 

We heard a similar thing from Frank Carlson in Harvard. His orchards are holding up but said the clock is ticking before the harvest becomes jeopardized. 

"If you came out in three weeks and we haven't had any rain, I don't think we are going to be as happy as we are today," said Carlson. 

His family has been running the orchard since 1936 and said if conditions stay the way they are, customers can expect a lower quality and quantity of their favorite apples.  

"We will have a lot of smaller apples like this, which is a two-and-a-half-inch apple," said Carlson. "So, we will lose some size." 

Carlson said harvest for apple season will start in about six weeks, but they need days of soaking rain in the meantime. 

He stressed there is still time for conditions to improve and harvests to produce healthy.