Extremely hot and dry summer causing challenges for local farmers

A few spurts of rain in recent days have been helpful but “isn’t going to reverse the damage that’s been done” for local growers.

Steve Griffiths has been operating Rock Furrow Farm on Bowen Road in Stevensville since 2008, growing cash crops like soybean and wheat, while also raising beef cattle.

He farms on about 700 acres of land and told Fort Erie Radio that the extremely dry summer has been a difficult one for himself and other farmers in the area.

Griffiths started planting around June 10 due to a cold and wet spring, and it’s those crops that he says are suffering the most as they have not received nearly enough moisture since being put in the ground.

Much of his soybean crop is dropping leaves and dying.

“Those plants need a lot of moisture in the reproductive phase when they’re making seed,” he said. “And if they don’t get it, they just shut down.”

He said due to when he got his soybean in the ground, an August with consistent rain all month would have provided a nice yield.

But a lot of it is “done for the year,” he explained in an interview on Wednesday afternoon.

“You can’t regain that. The timing is very important,” said Griffiths, adding that he expects up to 60 per cent of the total harvest on his early batch will not survive.

However, there is “still a chance” for what was started later in the season.

About 10 years ago, there was a similarly dry summer, which created the same challenges for local farmers, said Griffiths.

There have also been summers where too much rain has fallen, which makes farming difficult as well.

“Everything has to be in balance or it causes problems, and timing is very important,” he said.

Griffiths also said corn being grown locally should be standing nine feet tall this time of year, but most of it is only about five feet tall.

It’s likely “too late” for those crops to be of high quality, he said.

Debbie Sexsmith has been at the helm of Sexsmith Farm for more than 20 years, a local business that has been operating since 1867.

She uses a well system to hydrate her crops with a “drip line,” tubing with holes in it placed on the ground next to plants.

But she has some crops in the back fields she can’t reach, such as blueberries that are looking more like raisins, she told Fort Erie Radio.

“I can only do so much,” she said, adding that tender fruit like peaches are going to be much smaller this season.

“Things haven’t been able to develop as well,” she said.

One issue she is dealing with as a result of drought-like conditions is pests snacking on crops that are healthy and getting enough water.

In a normal year, deer would feed on grass at the farm in Ridgeway, but with it not regenerating and offering anything too appetizing for Bambi and his family, they have moved up the property to her market garden to sneak a few bites.

“It makes it really attractive to them,” said Sexsmith.

She said she hears about what a “great summer” people are having, hitting the beach, playing golf and going out on the boat, but nobody keeps local farmers in mind when making this claim.

Their bottom line is hurting as a business, but they’re also suffering as people.

“Just to be out in the heat working makes it extremely challenging, considering the human aspect of it,” she said.

The Town of Fort Erie and several other Niagara municipalities declared fire bans on August 12, which have yet to be lifted.

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