The Hartford Courant
Friday, August 27, 1999
Lack Of Rain, Undependable Labor Strain Family
Farm
JIM FUTTNER picks peppers in fields that he farms in South
Windsor. On this mid-August day, Futtner and eight of his workers picked 200
bushels of peppers. The harvest is smaller than usual this year because of the
dry weather.
As Season Wilts, Frustration Grows
By FRAN SILVERMAN
Courant Consumer Affairs Writer
This is the fourth in a series of stories examining the experiences of one
Connecticut farmer, James Futtner, as he takes his crops through the growing
season and his farm through the year.
The wholesaler earlier this August morning had asked for 60 boxes of eggplant.
But two of Jim Futtner's small crew are telling him they're quitting - heading
to Massachusetts for a job at a fishery.
The workers, a father and son from Vietnam, had told Jim in July they were going
to catch a bus to California. But they changed their minds when Jim explained
how far away that was.
Now they were definitely leaving, not picking eggplant from the field off Silver
Lane in East Hartford.
All summer, Jim and his crew have been dragging irrigation pipes through his
fields in East Hartford and South Windsor to keep his crops alive during the
driest season in decades.
All summer, he has tilled the soil on the rented East Hartford parcel, trying to
ignore the "For Sale" sign - a constant reminder that his future on the leased
plot is tenuous.
And all summer, he has been trying to meet the wholesaler's daily orders for
corn, peppers, eggplant or cabbage with a crew that, this year, seems no more
dependable than the rainfall.
He is out of patience. And so is his wife, Honora.
She has been asking Jim to consider giving up farming and just work in the
greenhouses, where they grow flowers and bedding plants.
"Jim is breaking his back, and workers don't show up," she said. "I've been
panicked about the future."
Just the other day, Jim, 51, complained of chest pains. It was probably just a
spicy meatball sub that caused it, he said. But the incident reminded Honora
that, like the rain, there was yet another thing the family couldn't count on:
Jim's health.
This time of year - when the labor intensive harvest is beginning - it is not
unusual for the Futtners to feel overwhelmed. But this year, Honora said, the
feeling began weeks ago and hasn't abated.
"It is a hard year, and Jim's that much older," Honora said. "I figured we could
just do the greenhouse stuff and end the season in June. I could get a job."
In the next breath she conceded, "I'd hate to have him give up farming because
he loves it."
But the anxiety about how the crops are faring in drought-like conditions, the
physical labor that goes into picking and irrigating and the stress of managing
the crew are taking their toll.
The farm's yields are down because of the weather, yet prices are depressed
because of an abundance of out-of-state produce.
Jim is skipping breakfast, and the pants that fit properly during spring
planting now are baggy. His face is taut, his posture slouched and his demeanor
tense.
"My stomach's been bothersome. I get tense in the morning because I wonder who
is going to show up for work. And I wonder if the weatherman is ever going to
get the forecast right," he said one day while driving his flatbed - at last
loaded with eggplant - to the regional market in Hartford. "I go to bed at 8:30
p.m. and get up at 4:30 a.m. There's been too much irrigating."
Showers this week finally helped the sweet corn. But rain - on the rare days it
has come - sometimes did more harm than good.
A torrential downpour on a Sunday morning earlier this month hit the South
Windsor field with such force it knocked down pepper plants and caused tomatoes
to split. Jim went out to inspect the damage, and was standing in three inches
of water - precious moisture that quickly ran off to the sandy low spots.
At this time of year, Honora and Jim are running in many directions. In the
beginning of August, the family again opened the fields to customers who want to
pick their own tomatoes or peppers.
Honora must register the customers, check their baskets, and police the fields
to make sure there are no unregistered pickers who intend to leave without
paying.
She also oversees the staff at the stand, where the family sells its vegetables
and cut flowers from the greenhouses in back, and keeps track of what needs to
be picked from the fields to restock the shelves.
Each day, Jim calls wholesaler Fowler & Hunting Co.. in Hartford to find out
what produce it needs from him that day. He then divides his time between the
field in East Hartford and the rented 15-acre field in South Windsor, directing
his small crew of between six and nine workers, including his 15-year-old son,
Joe.
This year, Joe and the farmhands are trying out a new $8,000 Veg-Veyer Jim
bought to help with the harvest. The L-shaped yellow contraption attaches to a
tractor and acts as a conveyor belt, sending vegetables picked from the field
directly onto the flatbed of a truck to be boxed.
But this dry summer's harvest is smaller, and the Futtners wonder whether the
$8,000 investment was worthwhile.
This year, they've lost half the peppers, and tomato yields are 50 percent lower
than in past years.
Once the crops are picked, Jim takes them to Fowler & Hunting, where workers
there greet him with firm handshakes and broad smiles.
The Futtner family has a 40-year relationship with the wholesaler, also a
family-owned business.
Years ago, Jim and Honora used to pile their produce on their truck and arrive
at the regional market at 3 a.m. to sell alongside other farmers lined up in
stalls. But the sales were cutthroat, the Futtners say. Buyers would pick
through the Futtners' produce or pass by it because a farmer in a nearby stall
was undercutting their price by one-third. They also used to deal directly with
grocery stores, driving around the state to drop off bushels of crops. But that
became too time-consuming, they said.
Now, they deal just with Fowler & Hunting, which supplies supermarket chains and
restaurants. The wholesale business comprises about 20 percent of the Futtners'
income from the farm. About 70 percent of their profits come from the farm
stand, and 10 percent from pick-your-own sales.
At the farm stand, the Futtners can set their own prices - but they have to be
competitive to attract customers. At the wholesale level, prices are subject to
supply and demand. And Jim and other small New England farmers are competing
with farmers from all over the country - and the world.
The difference between wholesale and retail prices is drastic.
At the stand, the Futtners are selling corn for 30 cents an ear. Wholesale, they
get 10 cents an ear - $6 for a bag of 60. And that's 25 percent less than the $8
a bag they got last year.
In recent years, an oversupply has driven prices down for farmers, industry
representatives say. In Connecticut, more farmers are turning to building their
own stands or to cooperative farmers' markets. Farmers' markets have increased
from 20 in 1986 to 63 this year.
But farm stands have their own hidden costs. Jim says he'd rather sell
wholesale. With electricity and labor, the stand is expensive and a management
headache.
"Wholesale, you pick it, pack it and send it to the market, and it's done," he
said.
In New England, supermarket chains have started reaching out to local farmers,
contracting with them for a specific price even before seeds are planted.
Local produce is promoted in stores, and in circulars as New England Harvest.
Sunday circulars for chains such as Shaw's Supermarkets are featuring pictures
of local farmers.
Shaw's spokesman Bernie Rogan said his chain contracts with 20 farmers in
Connecticut - up from 10 four years ago - and 65 throughout New England.
But supermarkets are under pressure to keep shelves stocked, prices low and
profit margins high. They look to other states, such as California, New Jersey
and Michigan, for fruits and vegetables, and also import from Mexico and
overseas.
"They are committed to local fanners, but that's just one piece of their
puzzle," said Rick Macsuga, marketing agent for the state Department of
Agriculture. "It's really a global market."
And supermarkets don't pay farmers for produce lost in the drought.
The Futtners will probably need a loan to make up for their losses, and are
looking into the low-interest disaster relief funds the U.S. Department of
Agriculture will make available to Connecticut farmers.
And Jim dreads that the water bill he will soon receive may be thousands of
dollars because of his reliance on irrigation this season.
And soon, he will be losing all but one of his crew as they all head back to
school.
"I'm just trying to pace myself," Jim said. " This time of year, I'm tense in
the morning, but I'm fine at night."
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