Ed Barger started farming in 1979 and has been on South Gale in Westfield since 1990. Ed has 30 acres of Concord grapes on his farm, but owns about 400 acres total across Westfield and Ripley.

Now that the annual grape harvest is over, crews are pruning his vines, snipping off about a hundred buds per stem.

"It keeps the vine most of the time from overproducing. Okay, so the crop will ripen efficiently," Barger said.

But not all of Ed's grapes ripened efficiently, despite producing a record crop otherwise. He took us down Route 5 to show us those unripen vineyards in nearby Ripley.

"Ugh. Okay um, a huge berry. They still have a nice taste to them. During harvest, we had about ten inches of rain over a couple months period,” he said.

Because of that weather damage, for the first time ever, sugar levels elevated and the grapes on many of the vines just didn't ripen.

Leading grape manufacturer Welch's in Westfield, just one of Ed's many producers he sells to, rejected the crop, saying it didn't measure up to the company's high standards, leaving Ed and his grapes hanging in the wind, with hundreds laying on the ground.

“It's a huge economic loss,” he said. “I lost about 250 ton of grapes, which is considerable. They're no good right now and they're not going to make any money. I'm hoping crop insurance will help us out, but I have yet to find that out."

"The recipe to our success has been built around our quality,” Brent Roggie, National Grape / Welch’s general manager, said. So, it's extremely important for us not to compromise the quality that we have.  Make sure that we always put that product on the shelf, and have it safe and affordable for our growers to use year in and year out. And have something that's on the shelf that bares our name and that consumers can trust and enjoy over time."

Leaders with National Grape, a farmer-owned co-op that purchased Welch's in 1952, say it's not uncommon for growers to experience ripening issues where grapes do not meet corporate standards.

They say what is uncommon was for Mother Nature to have an impact on their growers in Washington State with high heat, Michigan with a cold snap and the tristate area of Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York with heavy rain.

"Completely different weather issues, in the same exact year,” Roggie said. “That's quite rare for us so. Definitely difficult, our growers understand. None of like it when it works against us. We all like it when it works for us. But weather certainly plays a factor for sure."

At 65, Ed says he's starting to slow down some and looks to retire in about five years, as he grooms the next generation, hoping they'll never have to go through a loss like his.

"It hasn't shaken me as much, but it's kind of tough to go look at it," Barger said.

Ed says a deep frost and strong winds will take care of the grapes still hanging on, before the harvest process begins next September.