Hail canon really makes a noise in orchard town

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-23 14:58

BENNINGTON, Vt. -- Things have been booming at Southern Vermont Orchards. Really. And it's been keeping people up at night.

A hail cannon is seen in Bennington, Vt., Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008. The owner of Southern Vermont Orchards, Harold Albinder, believes he has found a novel way to protect his apples from hail damage: sending a cannon blast of sonic waves into the sky that supposedly prevents the icy chunks from forming. But scientists say there's no evidence that so-called hail cannons work, and the sonic boom they create has stirred a debate about noisy farms and the rights of those who live near them. [Agencies]

After a series of hailstorms devastated the orchard's apple crop in 2007, the owner resorted this summer to using a hail cannon, a noisemaking machine whose sound waves supposedly disrupt the formation of hailstones.

Scientists snicker at such devices. But farmers swear by them. However, as for the neighbors, they just swear.

"It sounds like artillery fire," said Gregory Connors, a 38-year-old software designer whose children have been woken up by the booms. "I'm up for everybody's right to farm. We support local farmers. But the technology and the way it's being utilized is not acceptable."

Hail can scar or ruin fruit and damage trees. Anti-hail efforts date back centuries, and have included the use of cannons, rockets, religious rites and bell ringing.

The effectiveness of hail cannons has been disputed for decades. But the devices have enjoyed a resurgence in recent years, with farmers in California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio and Texas employing more modern ones.

"There is no science behind it," said hail expert Griffith Morgan Jr., a retired meteorologist from Westminster, Colo. "The science that is presented is absolutely bogus. I have no reason to believe this can work."

Southern Vermont Orchards owner Harold Albinder shelled out about $40,000 for his cannon after hail ruined $600,000 worth of his crop in four storms in 2007. The device, which is about 16 feet tall, is solar-powered and uses acetylene gas ignited by a spark plug.

The orchard's manager activates it by cell phone when radar shows a hailstorm approaching. It fires a blast every six seconds, for up to 30 minutes at a time.

"It worked 100 percent," Albinder said. This summer, hail damaged crops in part of his 230-acre hillside orchard but left the apples within 1,200 feet of the device untouched, he said.

But oh, the noise.

The booms reverberated through the Bennington valley, mystifying locals. Some people in this town of 15,700 thought the noise was from construction work or from history buffs.

"When my wife and I first heard it, we thought it was a battle re-enactment," said Town Manager Stuart Hurd.

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