As most TFF subscribers know, the area where Terra Firma farms is no stranger to heat. Generally speaking, it’s objectively hot here most of the time from May through mid-October with afternoon temperatures rarely failing to break 80 degrees. And while it occasionally rains during that period, precipitation is uncommon. For us, that’s normal, and most of the crops we grow enjoy dry heat and suffer if it’s too cold or wet. But it’s not normal to have summer weather in March.
Since late February, it has been far too warm here and we haven’t had a drop of rain. In the 33 years I’ve been farming here, I have yet to see a year when it didn’t rain in March. And while we do have occasional hot days this time of year, March 2026 has been exceptionally warm. Disturbingly so. Our average temperatures are in the 60s, but for the last week we haven’t had a day below 75 and every day for the rest of the month is expected to be above 80. Monday and Tuesday both set new record high temps, as will today, tomorrow and Friday.
Both January and February were very warm months, but March feels different. The sun is very hot on your skin, the way it normally feels in mid-summer. The mornings feel cool…for summer. Last year was the one of a handful of years that we haven’t had frost at Terra Firma in March, but this year we haven’t even come close.
For what it’s worth, most of the crops we have growing prefer this weather to the very cold and wet weather we had in March of 2023. Our tomatoes in particular are enjoying the warmth and we haven’t had to worry about freezing. We planted Sweet Corn on March 3rd, the earliest we’ve ever put it in the ground, and it popped right up. Peaches and apricots are also loving it, and I expect our summer fruit harvest to start earlier than usual. There’s a great crop. Even the strawberries, which don’t love hot weather, seem happy right now. Keep your fingers and toes crossed that it doesn’t keep getting hotter in April though, as they don’t have much tolerance for triple digits.
The biggest problem with the warm weather right now is harvest of the cool-season crops, especially ones with leaves on them. We have to get them out of the field and into the coolers before it gets hot. This is an issue that we always have to deal with in the Fall, but have never had to worry about in March before. Also, the crops are generally well-acclimated to heat in Autumn, having been planted during the heat of August and September. The same cannot be said of vegetables that have grown through 4 months of winter.
There is no guarantee that whatever factors are causing this March Heatwave will continue through the spring, but if they do we will most certainly be looking at an alarmingly hot summer. Temperatures 20 degrees above average every day in July, for example, would translate into 105 degrees every day. That would be similar to what we experienced in 2024, and would be very problematic for our summer crops: while they don’t like cold weather, they begin to suffer when temperatures are well over 100 degrees every day.
Discussion of climate change and its very real consequences have been pushed out of the limelight by the anti-environmental policies of the current administration, not to mention by the weekly crises and chaos spewing from it. But it would more than a little ironic if the disastrous war in Iran and the effect it has had on petroleum supplies and prices causes the whole world to refocus its energy on reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.
Thanks,