Rainfall wreaks havoc on central cranberry farm, takes away autumn harvest

The remnants of Hurricane Matthew dumped a massive amount of water over the island on Tuesday, but in central Newfoundland — it took water away from one cranberry producer.

Fabian Power, who owns a farm along a stretch of bog on the Botwood highway, lost 20 per cent of his plants and this year's harvest to the storm.

Even worse, the farm's holding pond — a man-made body of water with high berms around it — had washed out.

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"It is a bit of irony," he said. "But when you get 180-plus millimetres in the amount of time we got it, you can expect some damage."

Cranberries are harvested by flooding fields and skimming the berries off the top of the water. With the holding pond gone, there's not enough water to harvest a crop this fall.

"This is really significant," Power said.

Loss won't have major effect on regional totals

While his Botwood-area farm was hardest hit, Power said other farms in the region weren't hampered as badly.

"As far as we know right now, it's just one farm affected out of 13," he said. 

"My yield this year that I would lose, will probably account for roughly six to eight per cent of total yield [in the region]."

You have to take it on the chin and move forward.- Cranberry producer Fabian Power

Cranberry farms also require flooding after the harvest, to freeze the plants back into the ground so they remain unharmed by winter conditions. Power has another pond on the farm, and said it should hold enough water to do the job.

In the meantime, work is underway to rebuild the berms and wait for nature to refill the holding pond.

"Not every year is a great year," he said. 

"You have to absorb it. You have to take it on the chin and move forward. We will survive."