2019 'another challenging year' for Wolfville farmer

The year 2019 will go down as "another challenging year" for one Wolfville, N.S., farmer.

"We've gone from a feast of water, where we had so much water we didn't know what to do with it, to a famine of water now and we certainly can use some water now," Peter Elderkin told CBC News Nova Scotia on Tuesday.

"It's very critical to different types of farming. Vegetables and that type of thing are certainly stressed now."

Elderkin, who runs Elderkin's Farm Market and U-Pick in Wolfville, said a cold and wet spring, followed by a hot and dry summer, have meant certain crops aren't growing as well as they should be. He singled out strawberries in particular.

"I see a lot of water being pumped, so anything that is not deeply rooted is having a very difficult year," Elderkin said.

According to CBC meteorologist Tina Simpkin, the weather this summer has not been extreme, but there were long periods of rain in June followed by a lot of heat in July, which aren't ideal conditions for growing.

Elderkin said he's heard of other farmers who are able to yield crops, but it's inconsistent.

"They seem to be coming on and then all of a sudden, there's a lull and and farmers are not able to get a consistent harvest, so it's been tricky that way because people have been harvesting and then you have to stop to let the crop catch up with you," he said.

As an operator of a U-pick, Elderkin said the crop issues are especially frustrating.

"We were U-picking blueberries on the weekend, but yet there isn't any to pick on Monday. And it's simply because stuff is not ripening as quickly as we'd like to see it or as evenly," he said.

Elderkin said last year was also a challenging year for crops because of freezing, which led to damages.

"This last year and a half has been as challenging as anything I've seen in the last 40-plus years that I've been farming," he said.