SUMMIT COUNTY -- Lifelong farmer John Szalay is not being sentimental when he says that this spring feels a lot like 1984.
"This year is beyond abnormal," said Szalay who operates Szalay's Sweet Corn and Vegetable Farm in Cuyahoga Falls. "It's the worst since '84."
Tractors were silent Sunday as Szalay watched geese work his fields which are too wet to get into with tractors and equipment.
Normally by mid-May, Szalay would have 100 acres of sweet corn in the ground. This year, only 35 acres have been planted.
"With sweet corn, you only have so many weeks to sell your product -- typically eight, nine weeks," Szalay said, "and we've lost two weeks of that."
"So we've lost 25 percent of our sales right there," said Szalay. "That's where we're trying to make expenses and just make it work."
Record April rainfall in Cleveland has been followed up with another soggy two weeks in May.
In the Akron-Canton area, rain had fallen on 11 of May's first 15 days.
Paula Szalay has worked the family farm with her husband for 28 years. This year has been stressful.
"Just every morning, the first thing you do is look out the window," said Paula Szalay, "to see how your day is going to be, how your life is going to be."
The wet spring has not spared many grain, fruit and vegetable farmers across Ohio. A smaller yield won't dampen demand though.
The price burden will be spread around from growers who supply grocery stores to farm market operators, farmers and consumers for the above-average rainfall this spring.
"No matter how high the price goes up, if you don't have enough to sell, it doesn't compensate you," John Szalay said. "Basically, the farmer gets hurt, the consumer gets hurt."
Szalay smiled as he reminisced about another tough growing season from 27 years ago.
"We made expenses," he said of 1984. "Didn't have a whole lot to live on, but we made it.
"Farmers have to be optimistic," Szalay said with a laugh. "It's going to be a great June. We're going to do a lot of catch up."
Szalay's Farm Market in the Cuyahoga Valley will open on June 10, but their first batch of sweet corn probably won't be ready to be picked until mid-to-late July.
WKYC-TV