“In the farming business, weather is a factor every year,” said Robert Fix, fourth-generation farmer at the Fix Brothers Fruit Farm in Hudson. “This year has been hard for the fruit industry in particular. New York is number two in the country for apples, but beginning with the late frost early in the growing season and then hail storms even in western New York, it’s been hard. Hail has never been so heavy or widespread in my memory.”

Fix, whose great-grandfather started the farm at the end of the 19th century, reports that the apples on his farm are “in decent enough shape” but admits that could change with the whim of nature. So far, the weather has affected the cherry and peach crops. “We never know ‘til it’s over. If we make it through this season, we’ll be doing OK.”

Not surprisingly, the cost of fuel is having its effect on county farmers. The tractors and other equipment used on the Fix Brothers farm as well as other farms in the county depend on diesel fuel. So do the trucks that carry the fruit to market. The cost of fertilizer has nearly doubled this year, according to Fix. Farmers also had to contend with the heavy cost of running pumps to irrigate the orchards during an early dry spell.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reports that increasing oil prices affect not only fuel and fertilizer products but also chemicals and transportation. According to the Cornell Cooperative Extension, U.S. farmers’ production expenditures reached a record $260 billion last year. That’s a 9.3 percent increase over 2006 and a nearly 30 percent increase over five years ago. The report notes that, on average, U.S. farm expenditures for fertilizer, lime, and soil shot up 26 percent, with fuel costs alone increasing more than 15 percent. No figures are available for the current year, but local farmers will tell you that they are suffering the same “pain at the pump” that the average consumer is, despite the fact that oil prices have retreated a bit in recent weeks.

The costs of farming are proportionately greater than they have been in the past, and farmers are struggling with an ever-increasing financial burden. Fix remembers a time when there were 20 fruit farms in Livingston alone. Today, there are only 14 in the whole county. The total number of farms of any kind in Columbia County is now 495.

Given all the challenges of farming today, Bob Fix is grateful to the community. A growing interest in where food comes from and a commitment to eating locally grown food as much as possible has drawn people directly to the source to purchase their food.

Farmers markets have become more popular than ever as savvy consumers see the wisdom of getting their food directly from local sources. According to the Columbia Hudson Partnership, there are nearly 50 farm markets and orchards that serve a growing number of conscientious consumers in the county.

The Don Baker Farm, which grows pears, peaches, sweet and tart cherries, plums, nectarines, apricots, blueberries, currants, and apples, sustained enough frost and hail damage earlier this season to put a dent in the cherry and gooseberry harvest. Too much rain split the cherries, and the frost damage rendered much of the pitted fruit unfit.

“This year’s just a big mess,” said Baker. “A lot of sorting and a lot of seconds, and tremendous rain in the last three or four days. The peaches split, and I’m afraid for the plums.” Baker experienced a 50 percent reduction in his harvest of peaches, plums, and cherries.

“Apricots were a total loss,” Baker said. “Everything was in bloom the first of May when the frost killed 50 to 100 percent of the stone fruit blooms. There was a great reduction in the pear crop.” For Baker, the incessantly bad weather means he will not be selling wholesale this year.

Even with this season being, according to Baker, “one of the most challenging,” there is still cause to be hopeful. So far, the apples are faring well, but as Fix said and Baker echoed, time will tell. It isn’t over ‘til it’s over—until the growing season comes to a close, hopefully without any further weather problems.

With the scare of contaminated food, especially the salmonella-tainted tomatoes and peppers that appeared in supermarkets from unknown sources, Fix is proud of one surety about his farm: there is confidence that the apple harvest will be viable and safe. “People are paying attention now. The problem is sort of taking care of itself to some extent because consumers really want to know where their food is coming from,” Fix explained. “All the apples from here can be totally traced back to us. If there is a problem down the line, they’re going to know where the problem may have come from.”

While the cost of fuel has affected the bottom line in production costs and profits, both farmer and consumer benefit when the consumer buys locally. As Fix said so succinctly, “Support local farms. We need each other.”