'Destroyed the whole crop': wet summer weather challenges Simcoe Muskoka farmers

The wet June that was has been ideal for preventing a repeat of last year's forest fire season, but it has also been excessive for some farmers and their crops.

Barrie Hill Farms, known for its fresh, locally grown strawberries, has been left with overripened strawberries.

"The combination of the heat plus all the rain has just destroyed the whole crop," said Morris Gervais, the owner of Barrie Hill Farms. "There's nothing that could have been done to save it."

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The unfavourable conditions caused the strawberries to ripen too quickly, prematurely ending the first part of its season and forcing Barrie Hill Farms to cancel its Canada Day Strawberry Festival.

"We work a whole year hard to be ready to offer a great experience and to prepare the crops, so yeah, it's terribly disappointing," added Gervais. 

Stayner farmer Ed Pridham is in a similar situation with his hay. About 100 of the roughly 400 bales of hay his farm produced this year are estimated to be defective, with mould caused by rain.

"We've had more hay rained on with more rain this year than I think the last ten or maybe 15 years," said Pridham.

He added that moulded hay is less appealing for his cows to eat, which could affect his calf sales.

 "If the calves are not doing well because the cows are not milking, well, then there's going to be a shortage of income."

Environment Canada believes the excessive rain has been caused by a greater frequency of US weather systems and their inability to pass through as smoothly to the Atlantic.

"When you count all the raindrops that have fallen, my gosh, it's probably about 140 millimetres of rain," said senior climatologist David Phillips of the rainfall in Simcoe-Muskoka. "You would normally see about 85 to 88, something like that. So about 60 per cent more precipitation than normal in June."

But a wet and muggy beginning to summer is good news for the fire season, as most of the region has yet to exceed a 'moderate' fire rating.

"We are having a good lower rating here in Ontario and locally here in Simcoe County," said Dan Heydon, New Tecumseth's fire chief and Simcoe County's fire coordinator. "The grass fires and brush fires have dropped significantly when it comes to the rainfall."

The conditions have also been favourable for some of Gervais' other crops. 

"The blueberry crop looks fantastic. They love all this rain," Gervais added. "Our sweet corn is coming along beautifully. (It) loves all this rain. Apples are sizing up really really nicely."

Environment Canada said July and August are historically drier than June, which would bode well for Gervais' summer strawberry season and Pridham's July harvest.