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Many Skagit Valley farmers are fearing the worst after a brutal planting season with little sunshine and ample rain has continued into mid-June.

A few have rolled with the punches, like Sakuma Brothers Farms, which has been forcing fresh market berries to grow beneath hoop houses that workers erected in the fields.

But most growers haven’t been so fortunate, and late harvests and yield losses appear unavoidable.

Through it all, about the only thing farmers can do is wait for better weather.

“That’s the worst part of it because right now, there’s nothing we can do but worry and stew and fret,” said Jerry Nelson, a potato grower who owns and operates Norm Nelson Inc. in Burlington.

Thousands of acres of vegetable seeds, potatoes and other crops are now months late in being planted. Those crops that are in the ground are barely growing because of the cold. The delays mean crops won’t be harvested until late in the year, when fall weather can greatly diminish yields.

Meanwhile, disease and pest pressures grow by the day, but repeated rain has hampered spraying efforts.

Several weeks ago, a brief warming trend created some hope that the valley’s $255 million-a-year agriculture industry could recover after an unseasonably cold and wet March and April.

But a deluge of rain and cold followed, and a bad situation turned worse.

Warmer weather forecasted for this weekend may bring a slight reprieve, yet some damage can’t be entirely undone.

Countywide yield losses won’t become clear until harvesting is under way later this year. Don McMoran, an instructor at the Washington State University Skagit County Extension, estimates that county growers will see at least a 10 percent yield loss overall.

The Skagit Valley’s $60 million potato crop is still only 60 percent planted, according to McMoran, but it’s the potatoes that are already planted that are causing growers to worry most.

Potato plants put in the ground in April would normally be several feet high by now, but most are barely six inches above ground. Some are under water and spoiled.

Potato plants need regular care while growing, but it’s been too wet to cultivate the plants.

Worse yet, blight, which is normally a concern for potato farmers in fall, when the rainy season begins, has already become a concern.

Nelson said he’s been unable to effectively spray his fields because another rain storm is always around the corner to wash the spray away.

Troubles are also mounting for the valley’s $2.6 million vegetable seed industry.

Dave Hedlin, who grows roughly 300 acres of vegetable seeds at his farm near La Conner, said it’s been too cool for his spinach seed to grow.

Meanwhile, bi-annual seed crops he planted a year ago, such as cabbage, have bloomed but may not be getting pollinated because bees aren’t as active in this weather.

“The number of days when bees can fly has been significantly reduced,” Hedlin said. “I’m most nervous about whether we got adequate pollination to make seed.”

Meanwhile, berry growers face late harvests and reduced yields, but some may be in a better situation to cope with the weather.

Sakuma Brothers Farms has been pulling out all the stops to keep its 1,400 acres of berries and other fruits ripening on time.

Several weeks ago, Richard Sakuma pollinated his pears and plums by blasting his fruit trees with pollen using a leaf blower.

Workers have erected hoop houses in the farm’s fields west of Burlington to force certain fruits to ripen on time. Strawberries that weren’t covered are still green. The covered ones are now plump, red and ready to sell.

The farm’s proactive approach isn’t cheap. The hoop houses, which can cover six acres at a given time, are expensive and labor intensive to erect and shift around fields. But the strategy is paying off. The farm opened its market stand Monday and was only a week or so late in doing so.

“It’s been an insurance policy against the rain,” Sakuma said.

In most cases, though, farmers’ hands are tied, and no one can avoid the situation altogether.

Even dairy farmers will be severely affected because they likely won’t have corn early enough, if at all, and will have to pay more money for feed.

Temperatures were expected to rise this weekend, but even then, most farmers said soils are so wet that they won’t be able to work their fields until Monday, at the earliest.

In the meantime, farmers are keeping their heads high. Many say they’ve seen weather like this before.

“I’ve got a few years on me, and unfortunately, I have seen springs like this one,” Nelson said. “I’d hoped they were behind me.”

In one particularly nasty spring in the early 1980s, Nelson remembers getting his last potatoes planted on July 3.

“If I’ve been through it before, I can get through it again,” he said. “You know that if you do the right things and keep your head up, you can get through it.”

• Josh Lintereur can be reached at 360-416-2141 or at .