A Good Growing Year

After a sopping wet spring that interrupted planting schedules, turned fields into small ponds, and had farmers quaking in their proverbial boots, the growing season on the South Fork turned out to be one of the best in recent years for some local farmers.

Grape growers are talking about a vintage year, nursery business was great, and farm stands report a "super" season.

"I don't have a complaint about anything," said Andy Babinski of Wainscott. He grows corn, tomatoes, sweet corn, peppers, eggplant, flowers, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts, selling them mostly retail from his farm stand on Wainscott Main Street.

"Potato farmers are taking it on the chin. But the vegetable guys had a fantastic year."

Potatoes Off

The spring rains compacted the soil early on and, although the dry summer that followed helped vegetable crops, it was less than ideal for potatoes, said Bill Sanok, the executive director of the Cornell Cooperative Extension.

"The net result was that the potato crop was off about 30 percent," said the director of the Long Island Farm Bureau, Joe Gergela. The price for potatoes is very poor, he said. "They are getting $4.50 per 100 pounds wholesale, which is considerably below the cost of production."

There was concern about corn in the spring because of all the rain, but the crop turned out fine.

Legendary Melons

Early strawberries did well, but not long into the strawberry season heavy June rains prevented the late-maturing berries from setting fruit, reported Ken Schwenk of Sagaponack.

On the other hand, he said, "this was a legendary year for melons. Such years are recorded on tablets."

On the South Fork more farmers are selling produce at their own farm stands and forgoing the rigors of the wholesale market. Many farms that were selling wholesale have gone out of business, Mr. Sanok said, and "a lot of the ones that are still in business are finding that they can't make a profit. They're pressured into getting more of a return and the only way to do that is selling direct."

Outstanding Stands

Often, Mr. Sanok said, it has been the younger generations that instituted the farm stands, which then grow from "table-top" stands to larger operations. "Then the older generation really has to follow the leaders, to follow the kids."

Mr. Schwenk doesn't sell anything wholesale because, he said, "I got tired of working for nothing. The customer will drop you for a dime."

Business at farm stands this year has been "outstanding," Mr. Sanok said. The farm stands also tap into the tourist market, and are doing very well this year thanks to a record number of tourists.

Not Over Yet

"If somebody didn't have good business, they did something wrong," said Linda Pepin, who runs Hardscrabble Farm and Farm Stand on Stephen Hand's Path and Route 114 in East Hampton with her husband, Edward Pepin. "I think every farmer had a good year," she said.

And the year isn't over, yet. "September is busier than it's ever been. There's the Film Festival and Columbus Day. As long as the weather's good, it's great."

Some stands bring in fruits and vegetables from elsewhere to round out their offerings, but others like Mr. Schwenk's and the Hardscrabble Farm Stand try to sell only what they grow or what other local farmers can supply.

Looks Count

It feels good knowing you've grown what you're selling, Mr. Schwenk said. "You chiseled your own nose out of a block of rock as opposed to going and buying a fully made sculpture." He raises strawberries, corn, melons, tomatoes, squash, and green beans on farmland that's been in his family since the 1920s.

As healthy as the farm stand business might be right now, it's not without its frustrations. People want fruit and vegetables grown without pesticides, but then "even the local people don't want worms in their vegetables," Mrs. Pepin said.

"If it's not the artist's rendition of a vegetable, they don't want it," Mr. Schwenk said as he bagged some squash and sweet corn for a customer. "It is pretty much true that if it looks good it is good," he said, but not always.

Dying Breed

With farm stands peppering many of the back roads between East Hampton and Southampton and scattered here and there along Montauk Highway, people have their choice of produce on the South Fork.

But competition isn't really a factor between local fruit and vegetable farmers, Mrs. Pepin said, "You all know each other, you're all members of the Farm Bureau. It's not so much competition as cost. Every year the rent goes up, the seed prices go up, there's insurance to pay, and it's hard to get labor. Every farmer gets together and moans about the price."

The present may be good, but Mrs. Pepin believes the future for traditional farming is not bright. "I think we're a dying breed. Give it 10 years and you're not going to see a farmer out here."

Good Grapes

In the place of traditional row planting, South Fork fields are more and more becoming vineyards, nurseries, and horse farms. "With the economic turnaround in the '90s, we've seen a tremendous interest in vineyards," Mr. Sanok said. With the good times, wine is becoming more popular and the wine business more lucrative.

As people learn how to raise grapes here, Mr. Sanok explained, East End vineyards don't have the ups and downs they used to. Vineyards are just beginning to harvest now and are bringing in above average crops with excellent quality, Mr. Gergela at the Farm Bureau reported.

It's a simple equation. "The hot, dry summer and warm September makes for good grapes and good grapes make good wine," said Larry Perrine, the wine maker and president of Channing Daughters vineyard in Bridgehampton.

Riding The Wave

This is the second year that Channing Daughters has grown chardonnay, merlot, and cabernet franc grapes on the South Fork. The winery also brings in grapes from the North Fork.

"It's been a heck of a year" for nurseries as well, said Wayne Robinson, who runs the sales department at the Whitmore's tree farm off Long Lane in East Hampton. "All the landscaping companies, ours included, are kind of riding a wave."

In the nursery and landscaping business, he said, "I don't think it depends as much on weather as it does on the stock market." Because the economy is good, people are putting more money into their landscapes and "appreciating larger trees," which are his company's specialty.

CARISSA KATZ