Maple trees at a Nova Scotia farm took nearly a century to grow but were decimated within just hours during post-tropical storm Fiona. The farm owner says the devastating loss hasn’t even sunk in yet.
Jason Haverkort, owner of Haveracre Maple Farm in Antigonish, says his farm will need decades to regrow after storm Fiona ripped through the region two weeks ago, tearing down trees.
Haverkort estimates about 6,000 of his maple trees were killed — half of his tapping area.
“It’s going to be a huge financial loss… I’ll never see it back in my lifetime,” he said.
Maple trees can only be tapped if they’re mature, and the process can take decades.
“It’ll take fifty years for the trees to grow back. I’ll never see areas tapped again.”
Haverkort said the loss likely won’t fully sink in until next spring when he was expecting a big sap run and will now only see “a trickle.”
He’s been in the business for 23 years — he founded the company with his family where maple trees were naturally growing. He’s been able to expand it since then.
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“With new production methods, we’ve been getting really good crops in producing in excess amounts to be able to sell some out of the province,” he said.
When the news came that Hurricane Fiona was headed toward Atlantic Canada before turning to a severe storm, Haverkort said there wasn’t much preparation.
“There’s nothing you can do, hope for the best,” he said.
His farm has seen damage in previous hurricanes and storms, but nothing like this.
“These ones seemed to go down in a chain effect… Tops of trees are laying on roots of the ones behind it.”
Haverkort said staff have been working full days cleaning up the damage, but it’ll take months before it’ll all be cleared.
The Nova Scotia Agriculture Association (NSAA) said Antigonish County was one of the hardest-hit areas for farmers in the province, and some won’t even see harvest this year.
“It will put some people out of business for sure,’ said Alicia King with NSAA.
“There will be some people that this will be like the last straw, with all the cost of inputs that we’ve had even just over this season, before even harvesting some of those crops.”
The province said help is on the way and that there will be federal and provincial cost-shared programs in place for insurance and income stability.
But even with some government assistance, Haveracre Farm will need decades to make a full recovery.
Farmer Haverkort hopes to see some compensation for the trees he has lost. “I’m not sure what’s coming down the pipeline yet,” he said.
“(It’s) a huge financial loss not only for one year but for the rest of my life.”
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