Much of Curtis McRae’s farmland in St. Andrews, Man., has been underwater for nearly two weeks. But he’s trying whatever he can to save his growing season.
Since he can’t get vehicles onto the soggy fields, he’s hired a company to reseed some of them using a plane.
“Ideally, we’re hoping to get more seeds on the ground, and with this rain forecast for tomorrow, hopefully that’s enough to make germination,” says McRae.
Almost all of his land was already seeded before the storm hit earlier this month.
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It’s been a wet start to the season, but David Phillips, senior climatologist at Environment & Climate Change Canada, says temperatures might stay high into the fall.
“I think the summer is going to go longer, so it started later, so you’re going to see another warm fall like we’ve had in the last two or three,” says Phillips. “So we may be seeing the end of summer come Remembrance Day, not on Labour Day.”
That’s something McRae is hoping to take advantage of.
“I probably need until Nov. 20, which is ridiculous. But we’ll try.”
Many farmers are trying to reseed, according to Keystone Agricultural Producers. But president Jill Verwey says they should check with their crop insurance before starting to see if they’ll be covered if the crops fail.
“The inherent risk is the number of days it has to mature, and then running into late maturing crops in the fall when there’s additional risk for frost,” says Verwey.
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