Maritime farmers are still feeling the impacts of last year’s drought and while it’s still too early to determine this year’s crop yield, one farmer isn’t waiting to find out.
From setting up additional greenhouses to running extensive irrigation lines, Patrick Fogarty is doing it all.
“We put in a few more water lines last year to improve the amount of water that we can get onto the crops and quickly,” he said.
“We’re upgrading all irrigation systems and all the greenhouses, not just from the water side of things. Ventilation is key.”
Fogarty wants his suburban Halifax farm, Fogarty’s Market Garden, to be as drought resilient as possible for this upcoming summer.
He counts himself lucky because the smaller scale of his farm makes it easier to manage the losses from last year. Still, he has taken advantage of provincial programs to protect his crops from any future droughts.
“It’s not just the obvious of sprinklers and waters and irrigation systems that all add up here,” he explained.
Get daily National news
“Just a simple tarp at the base of tomatoes or cucumbers in a greenhouse not only controls weeds, but it makes a significant difference in retaining water.”
Snapshot across country
The April report from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada notes Atlantic Canada saw slow improvement from last year’s extreme drought conditions — highlighting that soil moisture and shallow wells look good, but 70 per cent of the region remained in a drought or abnormally dry conditions.
“Pastures will likely see some continued impacts with slower starts. Berry and tree fruit production will likely also be affected due to impacts from last year’s drought,” said Trevor Hadwen, agroclimate specialist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, last week.
Other parts of the country are battling below-to-well-below normal precipitation in April, including British Columbia.
“The southern interior of British Columbia has received below-normal precipitation and below-normal snowpack this winter. Dry soil moisture and below-normal stream flows are concerning at this time of year,” said Hadwen.
“We’re hoping for good rainfall through the month of May to provide some improved conditions before we get into the warm months of the summer.”
The southwestern Prairies are also an area to watch, he said, after several years of drought created increased vulnerability.
- Legislators squabble in Manitoba following reported rise in inflation
- Motor oil prices are on the rise, experts say. The Strait of Hormuz is why
- Alberta’s timing targets for West Coast pipeline ‘best-case scenario’: CIBC analysts
- Port of Halifax grain elevator to keep running until at least the end of 2028
“While we’ve seen some improvements through the winter and early spring, it won’t take much to dry out the soils and see this region return to drought,” he said.
He said southern regions of Quebec and southern Ontario have seen improvements.
“Southern Ontario has seen well-above-normal spring precipitation, replenishing soil moisture water supplies from the dry fall conditions,” he said.
“At the end of April, 6.5 per cent of the agricultural land in Ontario and Quebec remained in drought or abnormally dry conditions.”
‘Building in those resilient measures’
For the Maritimes, all eyes are on the forecast. But given the fact it’s still early in the season, the full impact on this year’s yields isn’t fully known yet.
“Whether you were a livestock producer or a horticultural crop producer, Christmas tree grower, wild blueberries, everybody was impacted in some manner. And droughts like that are not something that we bounce back from overnight,” said Alicia King, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture.
For Fogarty, he said the best thing a farmer can be is prepared.
“It’s a constant thing every year, that’s part of farming and that’s what we do,” he said.
“So it’s just building in those resilient measures to try to be able to cope with the extreme weather.”
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.