The Surprising Shifts Climate Change Is Bringing to Vermont Farms: Rice Paddies, Peaches, Saffron

TOWNS STATEWIDE — Vermont’s farmers are growing crops that better suit the state’s warmer and wetter climate — and branching into products that provide income even when traditional crops fail.

Since 1900, annual temperatures in Vermont have increased by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit, and annual precipitation has increased by 21% over the same span, according to the state. The changes have forced agriculture to adapt in sometimes surprising ways.

Now that winters are milder, it has become commonplace for Vermont orchards to grow peaches. Nick Cowles owns Shelburne Orchards, and 35 years ago, he saw a bedraggled peach tree at a hardware store and bought it on a whim. Since then — especially in more recent years — peaches have become a lucrative addition to his business.

Peach trees like rain, and so the increased precipitation in Vermont does not bother them. Historically, temperatures posed a problem for peach-growing.