Farming is always a gamble
Pam and Sarah: Co-founders of Gathering Springs Farm
Pam Jones does not fashion herself a gambler. A world class rower and former Olympian for Great Britain, she’s the co-founder of the organic Gathering Springs Farm in Virginia. She’s thoughtful and welcoming, likes kombucha and knitting, and grows the best French sorrel in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. By the looks of it, you’d never think this is the profile of a person who regularly puts tens of thousands of dollars at risk.
And yet, farming has always been a gamble - and it’s getting riskier with climate change. Like millions of farms around the world, Gathering Springs is dealing with the impacts of both massive changes in rain patterns and lower aquifer levels. In the United States, aquifer water levels are falling nationwide. Of the 80,000 wells tracked by the New York Times in a 2023 study, 45% of them showed a statistically significant decline in water levels since 1980. Four in 10 sites reached record-low water levels during the past decade, and last year was the worst yet. “From an objective standpoint, this is a crisis,” says Warigia Bowman, a law professor and water expert at the University of Tulsa. “There will be parts of the U.S. that run out of drinking water.”
For Pam, and the region in Virginia where she runs her farm, multiple wells are going empty - a product of both too much real estate development and lower rainfall. Helios’ platform shows that last year’s rainfall was 20 inches lower than usual - a brutal 29% decline off of the historical average. Typically, with less rainfall you could rely on aquifers to irrigate your crops. But as cities continue to expand and develop, there are fewer wells to draw water from. We say we want to buy and eat local, but that requires a concerted effort from communities to “make room” for nearby farms. Especially when that means making painful tradeoffs, like permitting fewer buildings or rationing water usage so there’s enough for everyone.
Pam says, “When your crops are dehydrated, everything gets harder - especially pests. The biggest decision you have to make when you’re in drought is, ‘Who’s going to die first?’. Forget about optimizing your yields at that point.”
Example of drip irrigation at Gathering Springs Farm
Pam has a sophisticated water operation for the small 13-acre farm - drip irrigation for crops with well established roots, and larger circular sprayers for new veggies just starting their journey. But that’s not enough. Given the lack of rain and dry wells, this season Pam decided to not raise her beds. For those of us non-farmers, that means she’s growing her crops directly into the soil. If rainfall this year is similar to last year’s, not having her crops raised helps keep more of the moisture. But if there’s too much rain, the crops won’t be able to drain well and she’ll lose everything. It’s like putting your entire life savings on a spin of the roulette wheel and hoping for the best.
So next time you’re eating a delicious potato, tomato, or even French sorrel, take a moment to be thankful that this time the gamble paid off.
