New Brunswick farmer Gary Stephens says it’s going to be a financially challenging year after the farm he works at suffered flood damage, frost damage, and now, dry soil.
Stephens works at Fred Duplessis Farms in Keswick Ridge and said this year has been off to a rough start because of situations out of his control.
“It’s just that it just seems to be one thing after another this year and being a fairly new operation, you don’t have a lot of equity built up in your farm yet. Financially, it’s going to be challenging this year for us,” Stephens said.
Recent spring flooding also damaged the inside of the vegetable stand along Route 105 where they sell their produce.
The recent dip in temperature has also caused problems, destroying $10,000 worth of squash and vine crops.
“When the temperature hit zero, we were out yesterday morning at about 4:45 a.m. and we were driving up and down with the heaters going with the propane flames out, driving up and down our fields between the rows trying to protect as many plants as we could from the frost damage,” Stephens said.
Stephens said the lack of rain recently is also negatively impacting the germination of corn crops. He added that he’s never seen the soil so dry this early in June, but said he’s trying to stay optimistic.