P.E.I. is in desperate need of rain. This year’s hot, dry summer has the potential to be a huge issue for most agriculture producers across the province. “Whether you are growing potatoes, corn, hay, it doesn’t matter what you are growing, the dry conditions certainly have affected you this year,” said Robert Godfrey, executive director of the P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture. P.E.I. Potato Board general manager Greg Donald said it’s still early to estimate how things will play out, but he did say it could result in losses, and production could be down 25 per cent. P.E.I. potato producers support enough food for over 20 million people. “That’s right now, and it could be worse than that if we continue with no rain,” said Donald. “It’s huge for the individual farm, but for the (potato) industry that would mean over $60 million (in potential losses).” Some recent conversations Godfrey has had with longtime producers emphasize how serious the situation is. “They said they had to go back to the 1960s to find a summer near as dry as this one,” said Godfrey. Donald said this year is worse than the drought of 2001, which he described as the worst of his career. And that has Godfrey worried. “In 2001, it certainly impacted the bottom line of producers across the province, and I’m fearful that we’ll see that again this summer.”

Access to water

The solution, Donald said, is water and more access to water for agricultural irrigation. “Most of the irrigation that is in place is from infrastructure that has been there for over 20 years,” said Donald. “Just a small portion, less than 10 per cent, of our crop is irrigated.” Donald said if P.E.I. receives more rain soon it will help the later varieties, but the damage has been done to a lot of the early and mid-season varieties. Especially, in the central part of P.E.I., he added, it’s looking like there are going to be significant losses in production because of the heat and no rain and wind. Godfrey agreed that much-needed rain – and lots of it, like 20 and 30 millimetres – is essential. “If we get rain in the next two or three weeks, and substantial amounts of rain, for some crops that will be OK,” said Godfrey. “Some of them will be able to bounce back. “As it is, anything that is coming off as an early variety, or even in the grain crop, you are already seeing the effects of this drought. It has been quite a summer.”

Four years in a row

Godfrey said it’s very concerning this is the fourth year in a row P.E.I. farmers simply have not had enough rainfall during the growing season. “It matches what we are hearing from the P.E.I. Climatology Lab that has talked about increased precipitation for Prince Edward Island, but that precipitation falls in the shoulder months and not necessarily in the growing season,” said Godfrey. “The other thing is it raises the question on the moratorium on high capacity wells. We keep hoping and praying for rain.” Godfrey says it may be time to ask if that moratorium makes sense and to work with the government responsibly, so farmers have access to water to grow food. The hot temperatures are impacting not only crops but much-needed hay. Godfrey said a lot of producers take two or three cuts of hay but noted a lot of the second cuts this year were not great. “I talked to one dairy producer last week who, in his area, ended up selling hay that he baled in 2018 because there are people just crying for it,” added Godfrey. Source - https://www.thechronicleherald.ca