Summer flooding sinks some fall harvest hopes

A number of Manitoba farmers say they are expecting this year’s harvest to be one of the worst they’ve seen after major flooding decimated fields at the start of summer.

Bob Elliot, who has been farming east of Stonewall for 43 years, said he’s expecting the operation’s 5,500 acres to produce roughly half their normal yield.

Stonewall has logged the most precipitation this summer, with 523 millimetres of rainfall between May 1 and Aug. 16, according to Manitoba’s weather conditions report.

Elliot said the amount of rain has created a “unique” situation for farmers. “This is something that I don’t think anyone around here has ever seen.”

He farms spring wheat, soybeans, corn, canola and hay. While the soybeans have been better at absorbing the moisture, many of the other crops are ruined, Elliot said.

However, the flooding has forced a late harvest, and it will be hard to know the full extent of the damage until it’s finished.

“We should be 15 to 20 per cent done already,” said Elliot. “Once we get going the days, obviously, get shorter and shorter, so you’re just going to spread your work out further and further.”

While he typically runs a no-till farm, Elliot said he will have to plow the flooded fields for next season before it snows.

Elliot said the added costs of fuel, combined with the yield loss, is intensifying the financial pressure. “It’s definitely going to be a couple years to recapture lost revenue.”

Jim Kaleta is also expecting to a see a significant loss to his 4,750-acre farm north of Dauphin.

He’s estimated 50 acres of forage seed, 600 acres of canola and about 400 acres of wheat have been destroyed.

“We’ll be lucky if we get a 60 per cent crop,” Kaleta said, adding it is a big hit financially.

He said margins are already slim and he’s mostly been relying on crop insurance, but it doesn’t always cover the full range of costs.

Farmers in the northwest, Interlake and southern regions of Manitoba that experienced heavy flooding are all expecting lower yields, said Jill Verwey, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers general farm policy organization.

“There’s large areas of the fields that drowned out that never did recover, and most definitely there will be some loss of production in those areas,” she said.

Verwey said many fields still have water on them, and farmers are hoping for dry weather to clear it out so they can harvest.

“When you don’t have those strong yields, and we’re still suffering from lower (income) than what we should see for crops that we’re selling, that just adds additional strain financially,” she said.

Despite the challenges that have come with this season there is a silver lining.

Crops like soybeans, sunflower and corn that were planted later and are still in their vital growing stage have benefited from the extra water, said Verwey. “We’ve had rain right through the summer, so those crops haven’t needed to really struggle and send deep roots down.”

tiago.resko@freepress.mb.ca