BY CRAIG CROSBY

Staff Writer

Spencer Aitel is usually well into his second crop of hay come mid-August.

But the South China dairy farmer's equipment sat idle this week as 80 acres of hay yet to be cut once this season swayed in the wind.

His grain crops, as with the hay, also are largely untouched.

And down the road, there are farmers losing sleep over corn crops that have already been in the ground too long.

Even as the sun made a rare appearance Wednesday, dairy farmers across the region say it will take more than a few days without rain to dry the earth and crops enough to allow their harvesters to return to the fields.

Only then can they resume gathering the precious food storage that will feed their animals over the long winter.

For some, it may already be too late.

"Overall, the situation is going to become pretty drastic come spring," said Aitel, who owns Two Loons Farms with his wife, Paige Tyson. "We're not looking at a good situation. Costs are up and it's lousy quality."

Already affected by soaring costs of fuel and fertilizer, farmers have been hit with one of the wettest summers in recent memory.

According to Accuweather.com, it has rained in Augusta seven of the first 13 days of August, which comes on the heels of a July that saw 12 rainy days, including nine of the last 14.

"I've seen some wet summers, but I haven't seen one that's as persistently wet," Aitel said.

For Tom Cote of Somerset Farms, a dairy farm in Pittsfield, the rain has meant more than 100 acres of hay land has gone untouched. That's on top of 400 acres of corn that must be harvested by the end of September.

"We haven't had any weather to cut in about 45 days," he said. "Right now, the ground is wet enough we'd need a week of good weather to get on it.

"There's nothing we can do. We just have to wait and hope the weather changes."

Further complicating the problem: New Hampshire and Vermont, which sometimes can supplement hay for Maine livestock farmers at reasonable rates, have been just as wet this summer.

"The problem is everyone is in the same situation so that feed's not available," Cote said. "We will have to buy from out west. With trucking and fuel prices, it's basically prohibitive."

The cool weather accompanying the rain means Cote's corn is not maturing as quickly as it should, he said, which could reduce the nutritional value.

Fields of hay and grains that have not yet been cut, likewise, have passed their peak and lack key nutritional components.

"Even if we get the hay off soon, we've still lost 80 percent of the value of the crop," Cote said.

The more nutritional value that is compromised, the more farmers will have to purchase grains from out of state.

Depending on the type, feed-grain costs have risen between 50 and 100 percent over the past 18 months.

"Everybody knows what fuel costs are, but grain is a lot bigger percentage of our increase," Cote said.

When spending on grain approaches 50 percent of a farm's income, it means that business is nearing collapse, Aitel said.

One-third of Two Loons Farm's income goes to spending on grain, but Aitel predicts his grain bill could jump by as much as 30 percent this year.

"If more of us are pushing 50 percent of our income being paid for grain, that is not a sustainable industry," he said.

Cote, who predicts the miserable summer could cost him an additional $50,000, has already talked to dairy farmers who are considering reducing their herd to reduce the need for feed.

"We rely on more silage than hay, but a lot of farms rely on dry hay," he said. "I could see some of those smaller farms going out of business for sure because they don't have the hay to buy."

Julie-Marie Bickford of the Maine Dairy Industry talked to one farmer who described this as the worst summer in his 30-plus years of farming.

"From what I've heard from farmers, if it were the weather alone, it probably wouldn't be enough to drive them out," she said. "It's going to be a real challenge, (but) the farmers in Maine are very resilient and have a track record of working hard to salvage stressful financial years."

Brian Baggott of Belle Vue Farms in Readfield, which harvests about 100 acres of produce and 150 acres of grain corn, said his farm has had to get creative: Earlier this, week farm hands were harvesting the corn by hand because it was too wet for machinery.

"We've really gotten through this wet spell pretty well," Baggott said. "We really haven't missed one order in the last three weeks. It's been hard going, but we've gotten it done."

Rick Kersbergen, educator for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, said his office has seen an unusually high volume of vegetables dying on the vine. That's because foliage diseases are preserved by spores in the soil over the winter.

With persistent rain, those spores are washed up onto the leaves.

"Heavy rains and high humidity are key factors for disease development," Kersbergen said. "If you were a mold or a fungus, you'd be very happy."

But for now, farmers' happiness has been replaced by worry.

"The whole region is really suffering at this point," Kersbergen said.

"The weather's just not predictable enough to do anything. Hopefully there's still time for things to change.". Hopefully there's still time for things to change."