HOOPER, Utah — Rising temperatures, hungry bugs and an even hungrier virus are all causing crop failures across Hooper.
For Scot Venstra, tomatoes are part of the fabric of Hooper. His family has been farming for generations. According to him, this year has been harder than most he's ever seen.
"We have about 5000 that we started with, but we probably lost about 2000 to the bug," he said. "We were getting sick... just every day. There's more and more loss."
That bug is the Beet Curly Top Virus (BCTV), a plant pathogenic virus that spreads from the bugs that eat away at their tomatoes. They are particularly lethal for crops when the host plants become dry in the summer heat in Utah.
Fruit farmers were already hit hard earlier this year, but now Scott is losing vegetables too.
"I think this has been a horrible year for farmers," he said.
According to Laura Venstra, they are trying to grow other crops to help make up for the losses. But only so much can be done.
"We took a pretty big hit financially.. so we're just hoping that we can still get our community's support and know that our roadside stand is open seven days a week and we always try and provide the best freshest vegetables we pick everyday so we can keep our stand stocked and people can come by," she said.
More information about the virus, its causes, and what can be done to prevent and mitigate its spread can be found here.
