Farmer Ed Pridham has been working around crops for most of his life, and says this has been the driest year he has ever seen. “We’ve had very little rain when we needed it. Our early planted crops like corn and soybeans in early May came up well. Stuff planted in later May came up poorly and from there it has been way too dry.” Next to corn and soybeans, Pridham grows everything from wheat to alfalfa at his Stayner farm. He says months of dry weather will likely mean a poor yield for corn and soybeans. He’s expecting the same for hay. “Some corn won’t be worth harvesting,” he says. “Everyone’s been scrambling to get enough hay for feeding for winter.” The only solace right now is that this late summer rain will help with the hay seeding process for next year. There are programs available to farmers to help them recover from a bad year. Some of those are offered through the government, or through insurance companies. However, Pridham fears there won’t be enough money to help make up for the loss. “We participate in crop insurance and there’s a risk management program, which I don’t know if it has enough money in the pot to make up for what we’re short.” Source - http://barrie.ctvnews.ca