'Things are slow': Farmers hopeful for rain soon
Driest summer experienced in 30 years, farmer Justin McCurdy says
It may not be to everyone's liking, but farmers across the province are hoping for a good downpour of rain soon.
Alyson Chisholm of Windy Hill Organic Farm, in McKee Mills, says it's been a hard season to get things to grow because of the lack of rainfall.
"It seems like here in McKee Mills we seem to be under some kind of cosmic umbrella," Chisholm said. "We hear about rain falling in other places not very far away and we're not getting it here."
To keep her crops thriving, the irrigation is running 12 hours a day.
"The irrigation is good for keeping plants alive, but it's more sort of a supplement to keep everything going until the rain comes," she said.
Chisholm said she's never used her irrigation so much and wonders what it is doing to her well.
"It's an old well and it's a small well," she said. "We had it tested a few years ago when we put the irrigation system in just to see what the flow rate was."
Justin McCurdy is experiencing the same issues at McCurdy Farm in Point La Nim in northern New Brunswick. He's using his well for irrigation and to water his livestock, saying the livestock is the priority.
"In past years we've had a lot of rainfall, kind of intermittent through the week that made us not have to rely on any irrigation at all."
Too dependant on irrigation
McCurdy said being so dependant on the irrigation this summer is a new experience.
"Things are slow, they are not as far ahead as we would hope."
McCurdy said his father told him it's been 30 years since he's seen things so dry.
"Thankfully, we have neighbours and nearby town water supply we can access should we have to."
Chisholm told Information Morning Moncton she has one field she has not irrigated and is surprised how well the plants are holding up.
"I just credit good soil, good organic content matter in the soil," she said. "[It] means it's holding as much moisture as it can get."
But the organic farmer said she is seeing issues with yield, adding the heads on her broccoli were not very big and she is not picking as many beans as she normally would.
"So I can see things are going along very slowly. I don't know what's going to happen, I've never experienced this kind of drought and my well has never been tested like this so we can only hope."
McCurdy said he has a limited amount of fresh vegetables to sell in his roadside stand and yield is further behind than usual.
"I'm hopeful we won't see a summer like this for a long time."
With files from Information Morning Moncton