Harvest after a hurricane: an update from the Maritimes

(Kara Oosterhuis/RealAgriculture)

A slow start, high winds, and less-than-ideal harvest conditions have many farmers in the Maritimes working overtime to try to get the crop in before snow flies.

“For 2019, we had again a slower start, really things didn’t crank up until well into May,” says Syngenta Canada’s Eric Richter, in this excerpt from RealAg Radio’s October 23rd show.

Richter says some growers were planting corn and soybeans well into June.

“The growing season itself: average, decent amount of moisture, wasn’t really too hot/too dry, but we did see a shift in the weather that latter part of August…with some significant storms that blew in, including in September there, Hurricane Dorian.”

High winds in the early September storm wreaked havoc on some farms, lodging corn, and causing fruit to fall prematurely. Additionally, the September/October months were a little light on sunshine, with average to below average temperatures and increasing amounts of precipitation, says Richter.

And though it’s no wonder many are still hard at work on harvest, Richter says progress has been pretty good, with roughly three-quarters or more done harvesting the potato crop. By Halloween, he says they should be about two-thirds through soybeans, and corn silage should be nearing the end. For dry grain corn, Richter says it isn’t uncommon to see harvest go through November and even into December.

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