Let it snow! P.E.I. farmers say crops need shelter from winter weather

The inconsistent winter weather on P.E.I. this year is causing some concern for farmers who say more snow is needed to prevent winter kill.  

"The nice thing is to get...a foot or so of snow on top of the ground," said dairy farmer Dannie MacKinnon of Sandy Rae Farms near Brooklyn. "If we keep getting the cycles of freeze thaw, freeze thaw we could see a round of winter kill again this year." 

MacKinnon said weather can be particularly hard on perennial crops like the grasses and clover that he grows to feed his cows. The loss of one crop to winter kill makes it hard to catch up and have enough feed for the next winter. 

'Up and down weather'

"When you plant the stuff, it's very expensive stuff to establish and you'd like to get three to five years out of it," he said.

"Really nobody that has perennial crops likes to see this here up and down weather."

MacKinnon said he currently has some fields filled with ice. He said he isn't worried about that yet, but if it sticks around, it could become a problem. 

"You get the ice situation where you get a thaw and the snow turns to ice and then it freezes again so that smothers the plant," he said 

"And then you will get situations like we had a couple of years ago … where it snowed heavily in December and then we had a major thaw in January that soaked the soil and then it went to -20 C for a week."

Looking for 'decent amount of snow cover'

MacKinnon said that situation was worse than ice cover because the soil, soaked in water, expanded and broke the roots off some deep-rooted crops like alfalfa.

Mary Robinson, president of the P.E.I. Federation of Agricultural, says she hasn't heard many complaints about ice yet, but farmers are always adapting to winter conditions.

"With icy fields and bare fields we have exposed land … so what we want to see is a nice decent amount of snow cover and things tucked away until spring comes."

Bad for animals too

Variable weather is also hard on farm animals, said MacKinnon. 

"You'll get a plus eight like we got last week and they … take the sweat and then you know the next morning it's minus eight, they get chilled and they're the same as human beings … it weakens their immune system and there you go you have sick animals."

MacKinnon said some farmers are turning to annual crops like oats and peas to offset their silage because of winter kill and possible droughts in the summer.

More farmers buying crop insurance: MacIssac

The P.E.I. government said with the recent unpredictable winters, more farmers are signing up for crop insurance. Agriculture Minister Alan MacIssac said around 75 to 80 per cent of farmers have their crops insured.

"You never know from year to year or month to month what actually is going to happen. But you know in the spring you need your crop growing and it's costly to put the crop in in the fall, have it over winter and then have something happen to it because of the thawing and freezing," he said.

"Crop insurance is there for that and a lot of people are looking at that for sure."

MacIssac said about 75 to 80 per cent of crops are covered, however there is no provincial coverage for forages over the winter. There is insurance that farmers can buy in the spring that covers their forage until the fall.

He said not many farmers take insurance out on forages, as they usually survive.

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