Cayuga County, where Jason Turek grows sweet corn and other vegetables, broke records for rainfall during the first five months of the year.

At mid-June, however, Turek was relieved when his farm, Turek Farms in King Ferry, received about an inch of rain. Starting in late May through mid-June, the county had been dry. Turek farms in upstate New York’s Finger Lakes region, just east of Cayuga Lake, which historically receives enough rain that fields are not irrigated.

“Coming into our growing season, March through May was the rainiest period on record for this area,” Turek said in mid-June. “So we’re certainly at a surplus of moisture from the beginning of the year, but we just came through a dry period. We had about an inch of rain last night and we’re really happy to see it. It was getting, I would say, critically dry.”

Cayuga County logged its wettest January-May in 132 years, with 6.75 inches more rain than normal, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System, a multi-agency partnership that coordinates drought monitoring throughout the United States.

Turek expects sweet corn harvest to start in late July, up to two weeks later than the historical harvest kickoff, because of cool weather in May, but the crop looks good. Turek Farms will ship into the fall, as long as the weather permits. Last season, the harvest lasted until Oct. 20.

Sweet corn is the company’s largest crop, but the company grows, packs and ships a range of vegetables in the summer: green beans, cabbage, summer squash, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower.

“You know, we’re breathing a little bit of a sigh of relief,” Turek said. “Because the conditions were so dry in the past three weeks or so, a lot of it was sitting in the top profile just waiting for a little bit of rain to germinate, and we’ve had that.”

In the fall, Turek Farms grows pumpkins, gourds, winter squash and cabbage.

“King Ferry, upstate New York, is the home base. It’s where we’re the most diversified and it’s the most northern growing point for us,” Turek said. “What makes this area kind of unique is that the warm days and cool nights make for really good-tasting crops. They don’t grow too fast.”

Turek Farms’ marketing arm, Cayuga Produce, offers sweet corn throughout the year. When New York is not harvesting, the company offers sweet corn through SM Jones and Co. in Belle Glade, Florida. Turek is a co-owner of SM Jones and Co., which also allows Cayuga Produce to market cabbage, summer squash and green beans year-round.

Turek Farms has been expanding its packing, cooling and storage space with a 20,000-square-foot addition, half of which is for cold storage. Turek said the company has gone through some growing pains over the years, but a big driver in the decision to expand is sweet corn packaging.

“It used to all be in wire-bound crates, and you could double-stack them in the cold room, but now everything’s single-stacked, and you need twice the floor space,” he said. “Some of it’s in RPCs, some in Eco-Crates, and we are tray-packing in the summertime, and that goes in a cardboard box. Some customers want them in bins. You’re a little bit like a short-order cook.”