Rainy spring makes for challenging planting season
The amount of rain south Niagara has received throughout spring is making things challenging for farmers of all kinds.
Joseph Schonberger, a farmer from former Crowland township and the president of Niagara South Federation of Agriculture, said typically farmers want crops — in particular corn — in the ground before June, but with so much rain, it’s not been possible for all crops.
Some crops, such as hay and tree crops, will be thriving in the weather, but others such as beans need drier terrain.
“Farming 101 is you don’t control the weather. You have to work with or around the weather,” he said.
Grape growers are also feeling challenges of the wet weather, according to Matthias Oppenlaender, chair of Grape Growers of Ontario.
He said grapes hate cold and wet weather, which is a lot of what this spring has been, but he still anticipates a good year.
“We do have things under control,” he said, noting grape growers have learned how to adapt to weather conditions.
Growers counteract unfavourable weather through practices such as lightening crop loads and making sure proper repellents are in place for insects and fungus.
Oppenlaender said the grapes right now are healthy and free of any disease, which puts them on track for a normal harvest mid-September.
Growers will keep an eye on their grapes for the rest of the season to make sure they continue to mature properly. Any complications that so come up, such as the weather taking another wrong turn for grapes, will be dealt with as it happens, he said.
Schonberger said last year’s summer was too dry, which made for shorter crops in some cases. This year, with so much rain, farmers might have switched out what kind of crop they were planting or they’re hoping to still get something in by this month.
If crops don’t make it into the ground soon, it can mean a deficit for the farmers. “If it was to rain for the next two weeks, it might get exciting out there because you might not get a crop out this year.”
All is not lost, however. He said insurance programs such as the Unseeded Acreage Benefit through Agricorp help farmers with part of the deficit in situations like this.
“The money has to come from somewhere.”
He said the program and others like it are “better than nothing” because there are still bills and taxes to be paid concerning farming and then regular household bills, too.