Farmers raise concerns after extreme weather devastates staple crop: 'They basically boiled in the ground'

Pennsylvania potato farmers are expressing concern after a combination of extreme weather events caused lost crops. 

What's happening?

According to Lancaster Farming, potato farmers in the region experienced a significant loss of crops this year, no thanks to a strange combination of environmental factors. 

High temperatures coupled with torrential rains that were followed by drought conditions led to massive losses in crops, with one farmer telling the website that his potatoes essentially cooked in the ground before he could harvest them. 

Wayne Miller of Epic Acre Farm said he didn't get potatoes in the ground until June because of logistics and said the conditions led to a total loss of crop. 

"This drought is nuts," Miller told Lancaster Farming. "I've never experienced a fall this dry." 

"They basically boiled in the ground," Miller said. "Then I ran to Lancaster and bought another hundred pounds of Kennebec, planted them, and the same thing happened."

Area farmers noted that even when they don't lose their crops, they're seeing an uptick in a physiological condition known as Periderm Disorder Syndrome, which changes the potatoes' appearance and makes them look diseased on farms where irrigation may not be an option. 

Why are potato issues important?

Potatoes are one of the primary staple crops across the globe; they're seen as hearty, durable, and relatively easy to store for long periods of time. 

If the changing climate in farmland as traditionally fertile as Pennsylvania is starting to see crop loss because of prolonged heat and drought, that could bring significant and catastrophic issues to bear sooner rather than later on American agriculture. 

What's being done about Pennsylvania potatoes?

Unfortunately, scientists are still trying to work out exactly what is causing the issues in Pennsylvania and how to fix them in the short term. 

Farmers have tried using other varieties of potatoes; one told Lancaster Farming they were getting good results with purple fingerling potatoes instead of their Yukon golds, but it's unclear why or if that solution could work on a broader scale. 

On a larger scale, the best solution to the problems in Pennsylvania is to cool our warming planet, which means drastically reducing our collective carbon footprint. Doing so will stabilize weather patterns and make these sorts of catastrophic moments much less frequent.

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