Crops under pressure
Sunday’s rain a boost to farmers but still more needed
As clouds start to thicken, the growing season is looking brighter for Nail Pond market gardener Barry Clohossey. Until last Thursday, his vegetables had received only nine millimetres of rain since the final week of June.
His crop received five and a half to six mm on Thursday and another eight to nine mm on Sunday but he is still counting on Tuesday to deliver on its forecast of 15 mm more.
“It was a nice, soft rain; it did some good,” Clohossey said of Sunday’s contribution. “Things look a bit better today.” Clohossey was renovating next year’s strawberry crop on Monday and said rain on Tuesday
would certainly help with the cause.
The general manager of the
P.E.I. Potato Board, Greg Donald, shares Clohossey’s hope for Tuesday, admitting more rain is desperately needed.
“It hasn’t been ideal,” Donald said of this summer’s rainfall. “We’d like to have about 25 mils a week, and we certainly didn’t get that in July.”
And it’s been hit and miss across the province. Donald noted about 20 mm fell in the Kensington area two weeks ago and another nine mm a week later while the West Prince remained practically arid. Rainfall amounts were light in some parts of West Prince Sunday, too, with the Potato Board’s Fox Island seed farm only getting five mm. Donald said the potato crop has weathered the dry weather generally well, he admitted the dry conditions remain a concern, particularly in the western end of the province.
Early potato varieties, as well as crops planted after the wet spring weather passed, are more likely to be impacted by the dry conditions, Donald said, but it’s not too late for those crops if the taps turn back on. Prince Edward Island’s potato acreage for 2017 is listed at 88,000 acres, down about a thousand acres from last year. Donald said the third wettest May on record might have had something to do with that decrease.
Clohossey said his potato crop is suffering.
“We’re digging a half-crop of potatoes right now,” he said. “The numbers are under the stock, but they’re only half the size they should be, so that’s half a crop.
The situation is similar throughout his market garden, so much so that Clohossey has not been able to supply all of his regular stores and had to discontinue his veggie box program this year. He continues to run vegetable stands and to attend the farmers market but the supply is such that he has not been able to provide as much employment as usual. He said rain is now particularly needed for his fall vegetables like pumpkins, corn and cucumbers. Springfield West Potato grower, David Harris said late last week the rain is needed soon, or it could come too late for some varieties.
“There’s still potential here,” Donald insisted.
“We had a long spell last year when we didn’t have any rain, through most of July, actually, and we had an above average crop last year. From my perspective, it’s too early to call yet.”