Farmers in the Holland Marsh still haven't had a break from the heat and it's taken a toll on their crops.
Tony Gaetano has lost six acres of lettuce on his 120 acre property at Green Acres Inc. He says the lack of rain has forced him to shell out an extra $5,000 a month in fuel for irrigation.
"The pumps started on day one and they haven't shut off since,” Gaetano says. “We've never done this before where it’s run every single day until midnight."
Eek Farm across the street is also struggling because of the heat. Along with paying additional costs for fuel to power their irrigation system, they've had to hire additional workers to get rid of weeds near their onion crops.
Typically they'd use crop protection, but it's ineffective because of the heat.
"We normally hire two guys, and they can handle the farm work and hand weeding that we do. We’ve had to hire anywhere from 14 to 18 people for 11 hours a day for four days straight to pull the weeds out,” says Avia Eek.
"Our labour costs have gone through the roof. In a normal year we spend about 40 to $50,000 on labour costs this year. We've already spent an additional $12,000 on extra labour."
Eek Farms will continue to battle the heat in order to harvest an onion crop in the fall.
For farmers who have lost this year's crop and think it's too late to plant another there is something they can do.
The Lake Simcoe Conservation Authority will give farmers who apply the seed for a cover crop that will hold the top soil and put nutrients into the soil for next year.
