Weather across the region is expected to be warm and dry toward the end of the week, Lobdell said, which may get farmers back on track if they can find enough workers to help get the crop in.

CHALLENGING

Rouses Point farmer Henry Gooley said he is disappointed in the crop so far at his Hayford Road property.

"We haven't had much of a season to do haying," he said. "You can't have the hay that wet."

The longer farmers have to wait to cut, he said, the poorer the hay quality. That, in turn, causes the milk produced by the cows that eat the hay to also be of lesser quality.

Gooley hopes the excessive rain will decrease.

"We don't have much control of the weather, but we'll get through it."

"It's definitely been challenging," said Simon Conroy, owner of Conroy's Organics farm in West Chazy.

"In the short run, we're alright because we have some hay from earlier in the season. But in the long run, we're going to need to get the hay before it gets too old and loses its high protein content."

PRODUCE MIXED

On the positive side, the produce at Conroy's farm has benefited from the wet weather.

"The plants are flourishing with all the water," he said.

Produce growers are also feeling the effects of heavy June rainfall.

Ralph Child, who plants about 260 acres of potatoes and 240 acres of leafy greens at Childstock Farm in Malone, said his crops are not maturing as fast as he'd like.

At one point earlier this month, 4½ inches of rain fell in a week.