Bad start to season for local farmers

Story and photo Alisa Howlett

Farmers in the Quinte region are concerned for this season’s crop after all of the recent rainfall.

“It’s kind of like we all need some psychiatric help,” said local farmer, Lloyd Crowe. “We’re kind of helping each other, encouraging each other and saying, ‘it’s going to dry up and it will stop raining.’”

A record-breaking rainfall of more than an inch occurred on June 10of this year, said the Weather Office at CFB Trenton. The last record was set 62 years ago.

“We have had a pretty good planting season starting in early May, it went well. Since the rain started it has slowed down planting,” said Crowe, co-owner of Reynolds Farms and the Prince Edward County delegate of Grain Farmers of Ontario.

The northern end of PEC suffered a rainstorm that brought farming from Belleville through Napanee to a halt. Hundreds of acres have yet to be planted, said Crowe.

“I can’t remember so much water laying in the fields at this time of year. Usually you can’t buy a rain,” he said.

Farmers that have already planted their seeds are wary of how they might turn out.

“There’s a lot of worry, there’s a lot of things we’re watching for,” said Bette Jean Crews, former president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. “Everything looks good, but with no heat they aren’t growing as fast as they should.”

Farmers that haven’t been able to plant might experience later difficulties.

“If you didn’t get [the seeds] in before that downpour rain, it takes a long time for that to dry up enough to get a tractor in the ground,” Crews said.

Cash crop farmers are not the only ones who have been affected by the inclement weather. Dairy farmers are experiencing set backs as well.

“The rainfall hasn’t affected the cattle too much, although the variation in temperature is hard on the cattle. With the up and down in the temperature they tend to have more pneumonia,” said Mark Donnan, Donnondale Farms owner.

Earlier this spring Donnan suffered a small loss in production when he treated a few of his calves for pneumonia. He was able to nurse all of them back to health with the assistance of a veterinarian. He store feeds his cattle so he has not been concerned about the quality of his pasture, he said.

Although Brent Siwicky, Cricklewood Farm Co-owner, still has some planting to do he is looking on the bright side of the dark weather.

With lower crop yields, the prices might remain firmer, he said.

The wet weather has ultimately delayed local farmers’ production time and caused a loss in yield, said Crews.

The Unseeded Acreage Benefit covers farmers’ expenses when the weather is unsatisfactory.

“You don’t make any money, they cover your expenses and you hope for another year,” Crowe said.

The owners of Reynolds Farms are hopeful and are making the best of their time waiting for the rain to stop.

“You try and look busy,” Crowe said. “There’s always things to be repaired or fixed, as cash crop farmers we rely heavily on machinery.”

Crowe and co-owner, Larry Reynolds, have just begun the construction of a machine shop. It has been a dream of theirs for a while, Crowe said.

In the meantime, farmers throughout the area are gearing up to work for when the land is ready again, he said.