Local hay growers are as gloomy as the skies recently, which opened up and rained on their profits sitting in the fields this week.

Tomato and wheat crops may also have been damaged by Tuesday's summer storm. And while wine grapes did not sustain damage, said Walt Chavoor, viticulturalist with the Lodi Winegrape Commission, the rain delayed growth in an already cool spring and early summer.

"This is sure not helping hay producers," said Rick Staas, president of San Joaquin Valley Hay Growers association in Tracy. He said alfalfa hay in the Stockton, Sacramento and Woodland areas had been cut for the third time this season and was curing in the fields before baling when rain hit Tuesday.

"The sad thing is, some of my growers were hit by rain at the first and the second cuttings," Staas said. "I've never seen anything like this. This is going to have negative financial effects on our growers."

Staas said alfalfa hay growers are still reeling from low hay prices last year, which placed many of them at the break-even level. Because hay acreage in California is off by 10 to 15 percent from last year, and the cool spring held back production, hay is now enjoying record prices.

Growers are hoping the cool, breezy weather in recent days dries out hay lying in fields before this weekend's 100-degree temperatures hit and spur mold growth.

"We're looking at anywhere from $20 to $50 a ton in price reduction," Staas said of damaged hay.

The rain came at the peak of wheat harvest. Janice Cooper, executive director of the California Wheat Commission in Woodland, said it's too early to tell the effects. Wheat growers also are hoping the weather helps dry out wheat still standing.

"Rain during harvest is very unusual for us and not welcome," Cooper said.

Processing tomatoes in Yolo and Colusa counties got the worst of the rain, reporting 1.25 to 1.5 inches in some fields, said Mike Montna, president of California Tomato Growers Association.

"It's too early to tell how much damage was done," Montna said, adding that the harvest was delayed by cool weather. Now, growers in Yuba and Colusa counties are spraying fungicides for bacterial speck and mold, he said.

The state's cherry harvest is over for growers in the Lodi and Stockton area, but Jim Culbertson, executive manager of the California Cherry Advisory Board, said rain on June 4, during peak harvest time, dented crops by a third.

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