JANESVILLE, Wis. — It is peak strawberry season in Wisconsin, and this comes at a time when most of the state is also suffering from a drought.
About half of the state is abnormally dry for June and the other half is moderately dry.
Despite the dry temperatures, Laura Skelly, part owner of Skelly Farm Market in Janesville, said her crop has been great so far this season.
“We just can not keep up with demand it seems like," said Skelly. "I mean four years ago we would have never had this many cars on an 85 degree afternoon."
Skelly said ever since the pandemic, the u-pick season has been very popular at their farm.
This year, due to the dry weather, her family has had to put a lot of work into the crops.
“It has been nonstop irrigating. I don’t think we have had much rain for a month and a half I want to say,” said Skelly.
Right now, they are watering their crops every four to five days, but Skelly said that is not much different than previous seasons.
“Strawberries are a lot of work to begin with, uncovering them in the spring and then all of the maintenance to get these beautiful looking rows," she said.
Skelly’s farm is equipped with a proper irrigation system and she is not worried about the lack of rain.
For farms that aren’t equipped with a proper irrigation system, this drought could shorten the strawberry season or lead to less crop.