New England growers are grappling with unpredictable winters that can veer from balmy to frigid within a matter of hours -- with repercussions for iconic New England crops. Photo: Shutterstock
This article is part of an occasional series on how climate change is affecting New England winters.
Sometimes, we all just need a little time to chill.
And that’s especially true of fruit trees, many of which require an optimum amount of cold each winter to flourish and bear fruit in the spring.
Increasingly, though, they aren’t getting that chill time. Despite this year’s backflip to the polar temperatures and snowfall totals of a bygone era, winters are undeniably becoming shorter and milder. The last decade of relatively warm, dry winters has made that clear, with temperatures accelerating upward over the last five years.
It’s just one more effect of climate change, testing New England farmers and growers of everything from blueberries to maple syrup. But the problem is not just warmer winter temperatures. New England winters have become erratic, with other seasons following suit, toggling between extremes like drought, heat waves, and heavy rainfall.
“The warming winters have been tricky to navigate for sure,” says Garrett Sorber, co-owner of Radical Roots Nursery in Winterport, Maine. Sorber and partner Sam Olvera sell organic heirloom apple, pear, plum, and cherry trees, among other species, along with native plants.
The worst, Sorber says, is “the fluctuations in temperatures, where it gets really cold and then we’ll have 50-degree temperature swings. That is really what’s been most stressful for the trees.”
“Growers are on the front line of climate change,” says Scott Sanderson, director of CLF’s Food & Farm Initiative. “They are among the first to see the dramatic repercussions of warmer, less predictable winters and the first to feel the direct economic impact. But we all feel the impact, especially when we shop for produce.”
Blueberries Like It Cold
You might think warmer winters would bring abundance, since a greater variety of produce can now be grown in New England’s once-harsh climate. And to some extent, that is true.
Sorber and Olvera, for instance, grow apricots, peaches, and pawpaws, associated with states like sultry Georgia and subtropical North Carolina.
“It’s allowing us to experiment with different types of plants to grow – things that haven’t historically been hardy in New England are now available,” says Sorber.
Other New England growers are experimenting with rice, and saffron. But as our climate becomes more conducive to growing some crops, it becomes less conducive to growing others, which has been painful for farmers, especially those growing our most iconic crops.
In Maine, wild blueberry producers lost around $28 million in 2025 due to drought. Sorber and Olvera, who ironically moved from Colorado to Maine as self-proclaimed “climate refugees” to escape a lack of water there, also experienced losses during last summer’s drought.
“We had a lot of trees that aborted fruit, and our nursery stock suffered significantly,” says Sorber.
Drought conditions are part of the regional double climate change whammy that has brought dry summers and warming winters. Blueberry producers usually harvest about 80 million pounds of fruit, but last year harvested only 55 million pounds.
On the flip side, bushes and fruit trees suffer because of winters like 2023/24, when places like Concord, New Hampshire, experienced no nights with temperatures below zero. It was the second-warmest winter on record. The problem is that blueberries, like other iconic fruit crops, including apples and cranberries, require upward of 900 hours below 45 degrees to trigger healthy flower and fruit production.
“If we get a really hot day, the plants think, ‘ Oh, it’s spring, it’s time to wake up,’ and they start breaking bud,” says Olvera. “And then we get a hard frost, and then all those buds are going to die. Those extremes really cause a lot of problems.”
Courtesy of Yale Climate Central
A Climate Superfund Law Could Help
Growers are coping with dramatic shifts in New England weather as best they can. Some are planting different varieties of the fruits and vegetables they grow, while others are seeking greater resilience by building farm infrastructure, such as drip irrigation for dry spells, rain catchment systems, or greenhouses to protect plants from unexpected cold snaps and heavy rain.
“Last year was really eye-opening for how we need to harden our systems to make sure that we don’t have another year like that,” says Sorber.
Radical Roots is investing in more drip irrigation, micro sprinklers for its orchard, and using the State’s Drought Relief Fund to build an additional well for a new irrigation system, which can help water its 1,500 fruit trees. It is also broadening the diversity of plants it offers.
Meanwhile, legislators have been seeking economic relief for farmers struggling under the weight of climate change. The problem is serious enough that Maine Senator Susan Collins wrote a letter last November asking the USDA for help.
“Maine specialty crop producers are now facing tremendous challenges,” she wrote.
Collins’ plea for help underscores why many states, including Maine, are considering adopting laws like Vermont’s Climate Superfund Act, passed in 2024. That law, now being challenged by the Trump administration (CLF is defending the law in court) requires large fossil fuel companies to help pay for cleanup and adaptation costs that cities, towns, homeowners, and businesses are now paying to respond to and repair damage after extreme weather events caused by climate change. Such laws could be a game-changer for a weary public reeling under rising climate-related damages. And while Maine’s superfund proposal that advanced in the Maine legislature in January would not reimburse farmers or private businesses for climate-change-related damage, it would provide relief to towns, cities, and environmental justice communities needing to rebuild public infrastructure after severe storms. That’s a step in the right direction.
“People are just really worried about the unpredictability of it all,” says Olvera. “A lot of people have been growing for decades, and they’re like, well, this isn’t how it used to be.”
Growers are experiencing firsthand the effects of climate change, be it warmer winters, drought, or heavy rains. Now they want lawmakers to do something about it.
“It needs to be treated as the emergency that it is,” says Sorber. “We’re experiencing a very mild form of the change in climate. There are others who are experiencing catastrophic levels of this, and it needs to be treated as an emergency with a sense of urgency because it’ll only get worse. We need to stop the bleeding.”
