Each season, a local benchmark for farmers is getting corn for the fourth of July. And local corn, there will be.
Joe Gergela, executive director of the Long Island Farm Bureau, said that some corn started being pulled off the stalks as early as last week. With the help of row covers in the plants' early stages, Gergela said, a warmer climate is created around the young seeds as they sprout.
In St. James, BB&GG Farms is selling local corn at their North Country Road fast stand as well as Borella on Edgewood.
While heavy rains earlier this month put a damper on the growing season for some crops, for corn, the extra water meant adding fertilizer – which was frequently washed away – said Jeff Rottkamp of Fox Hollow Farms on Sound Avenue in Cutchogue.
"Like my father used to say: 'Do you like to eat two to three times a day?' So does food," he said.
Joe Pinciario contributed to the reporting of this story.
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