Monday’s heavy rainfall was a welcomed sight for farmers in the province. Early crops like strawberries have been stunted and slow to grow because of a dry spring.
New Brunswick farmer Chris Michaud says cool weather and a lack of rain really slowed down the growth of his crops.
“Although it seems like it’s been raining a lot over here it wasn’t raining at all just little sprinkles,” he said. “The crops, it seemed like they weren’t growing everything just sort of stalled. The berries weren’t getting any size and the potatoes they also need water and everything seemed like they were waiting for something.”
On Monday, he got the rain he’d been waiting for.
Euclide Bourgeois was concerned about his strawberry crops before the rain. Bourgeois’ berries were small and growing too slow but after Monday’s downpour he’s hoping they will bulk up.
“We’re looking forward to seeing how the fields are going to react to all this rain. It’s quite a bit but you got to take it when it comes I guess,” he said.
He says the quality of the fruit looks good so far. But it’s been too cool for the fruit to ripen just yet.
“There are some years where we would have strawberries in June.”
He says this year’s berries won’t be ready to pick until early July.
Source - http://www.freshplaza.com/
