North Carolina farmers adjust planting, harvest schedule to adapt to climate change

One of the ways she has learned to adjust her farm is by altering the growing season. She says planting certain crops later or earlier in the year can come with challenges.

The farm has been in her family for 140 years, Martin says through the years she's seen changes that have had a direct impact on the farm.

Shifting the planting schedule, she says, “It's a good thing on certain crops, but it might be more difficult on other crops.

"We just have to learn to pivot whether that's a good thing for our crop or a bad thing, and we just have to make sure we have our farm plan in place so we can supply our communities with food,” Martin said.

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“Yes, I firmly believe climate change is real. I think just going back and going over the previous years and harvest dates and transplant times, you can see for a fact that the climate is shifting, and we are all having to adjust to that,” said Keaton McDaniel, farm production coordinator at Inter-Faith Food Shuttle Farm.

The farm is located on Dover Farm Road in Raleigh.

McDaniel says they are planting lettuce crops almost two weeks early this year because of the drastic changes in weather. Crops like strawberries are already starting to bud when he normally does not see that until April.

Farmers like McDaniel and Martin are learning to deal with the changing climate while keeping local communities fed.