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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1988-07-13, Page 61';i j 6 Times -Advocate. July 13, 1988 Crop ymay already the worst scenario --"total disas- "If we got a rain this Saturday, ter". we're still looking at a 20-30 per - Dale'. Good of W. G Thompson cent loss. We're looking at short maintains that, even with a good corn. We re looking at a reduction rain, the crops will be reduced this in yield•because of the drought." season. .Long•distance forecasts have in- "It'sjhurting," Good said of the dicated there might be virtually no bean crop. "It's hurting bad as this rain in July. 11: those forecasts. pan weather goes on. • out. 'Good predicts terrible const That light sprinkling of rain we received Sunday night hasn't done • • much for the wilting crops in the area, and depending on who you talk to, farmers could already. be facing 20-30 percent reductions in the yields of corn, white Kean -and • - - soybean crops: The best scenario at` this point is an average harvest; Dusty optimism K„ • -r. • r 4 . .1r4 •-/ �a d .4**a rr r r . it, d sit , DEANS SUFFERING - Usborne Township farmer Murray Dawson points o.ut that while his white beans are flow- • enng. plant size is often too small to bring in a good-sized crop. Irrigation not without limitations LX[i' [iR - While irrigation 'is available to vegetable -and fruit pro- - ducers, Most agree it can do little to overcome the effects of this year's drought. "We've been lacking moisture all along," said Earl Neil of Quality i'nxtu: who noted that last year's dry summer, little snow -in the w inter. and now this drought have come together to create a serious • lia:4-7•7411.,.K*91ini:for his cro • - ' rrvtirastic., actually, " hc • said. • Neil has hied irrigation systems runninI continuously for the past • Six weeks. "Our labour costs -on ilrrigating are unbelievable." he said, adding that water les cls in the area's rivers . and creeks are on the way down. Ile is focussing his irrigation ef- forts on his turnip crop because it is the one most likely to return the - costs of irrigation. Watering all his craps is out of the question be- cause of the time involved. Neil has been growing rutabagas for 37 Vicars and claims no two years have been the same, for ei- ther grow nig or marketing them. year every crop is hanging in the balance of dry wcathcr and nein • prices. Ile has already seen early c, timates • in the U.S. 'placing pea prices up 35 perccnt•over last year. " "I think you'll. sec prices on canned goods go up here as well.," he observed, explaining that yields wilt have the last word on prices. "Weknow the yield is going to 'be cut on all crops," Neil claimed. Anotherfactor in the price equa- tion is the weakening U.S. dollar. Alt export crops arc sold in U.S. dolfnts, which now convert to fewer Canadian dollars. This will bc of major significance if --.severely drought -stricken areas .of the U.S. arc forced to import from Canada. Agriculture minister Jack Riddell mentioned on his tour of arca farms last Thursday a call he received from the state secretary of Wisconsin or- dering hay for starving cattle. .Whch Riddell asked how much was needed, he was told "a whole train load':- - .Neil sees no end in sight for the drought problem; he considers it an indicator of a new wcathcr trend for North America. • "She just keeps. getting. drier and drier," he said. Neil added he was thankful his fields have not yet ex- perienced dryness to the point of blowing soil. His red clover crop, - however, is, in trouble, along; with other grass seeds. Neil s:res'tirc dry conditions allowed the seeds to ger- minate .w'ithout forming proper roots. Tom Ryan, assistant manager at Valu -Marl, has seen the effects of the dry weather in his store's s,:!ec- tion of produce already, hia h. f.•::r the worst is yet to come. "1 know we have hcen having some problems getting; produce.` said Ryan. Some crops, both tonal and imported, are in short xupp:,. and when available, they are often of poor quality. Ryan points oiit that the striwherrics %vere the first to show the effects of a bad season. "1 think it's going to he the same all around," he said, Ryan has alreai yken ter i mar~ i°'�r rine prices are scheduled to increase soon due to shortages of vegetable and soya oil. . . "i think you're going to sec prices ..kyroikgt a hit," he stated. Ilis ad- vice to shoppers is simple: stock up whenever possihlc. be down by, 30 >l uenc c "There's not enough moisture in .the, soil to take the crop. through at all. It would be a total disaster," . • W.G Thompson grain handlers are tied in' with - the fortunes of local farmers. . "Up to this point; it hasn't affect- ed our business, but when you've got a yield reduction; it means less crops to handle and it means less - crops to sell," Good said. "It could mean layoffs." • Huron crops best Terry Daynard, `manager of the Ontario Corn Producers Associa- tion, points out that the corn crops betweon Exeter, and Hensall are among the best in the province. "Obviously the crop was suffering there, but it looked to be the best around," Daynard said. Monday's rain did little to stop the drought, however. "It (rain) will probably give a day's respite," Daynard said Mon- day. "In order to do any real benefit, we've got to get about an inch of rain. Not much has changed today from what it was the day before." Corn is now approaching the most critical time in the growing process which occurs when it be- gins to tassel. . "If you have serious stress any time around that stage, you're look- ing at -a serious reduction in yield." The Corn Producers Marketing Board has released figures which suggest that S20 million in income is lost every day the drought contin- ues. "That's not an exaggerated figure, Daynard noted. "In fact, some say that might be on the low side." Beans suffering • Exeter area farmer Murray Daw- son is watching his corn, white beans and soybeans fade as the drought continues, but he is opti- ,tnistic about the potential harvest. Varieties such as OCA Seaforth beans are entering the crucial flow- ering stage. "The Scaforths aren't deep rooted and they aren't standing the drought at all," Dawson said earlier in the Week. "If we don't get rain, they're certainly going to be reduced." Dawson also planted a variety of beans called Ex -Rico 23s. Because they have a heavier stem with deep, "1 don't think I've ever seenthe corn look so bad fibrous roots, they are better equipped to collect what moisture is• available. The Ex-Ricos look better than the Seaforth beans, but they too arc suffering. Dawson's soybeans.are half the height they normally would have attained by this time of the year and they are already coming out in flower. As if the drought isn't enough to • contend with, Dawson recently lost a large tract of corn to frost. But again he is optimistic. "We probably have a third of one field (of corn) -- probably 10 acres hit," Dawson estimates. "But we're -not hit as hard as some people." Dawson explained that, while the percent outside leaves have been touched by frost, the stem centres went un- harmed. With the centre alive, the corn has a chance of rebounding. But it needs rain. - Ironically, heavy rain in .May caused Zurich farmer Ron Overholt to plant his seeds shallow -- a tactic used to allow the seeds to germinate should a second heavy rain form a crust on the top soil. Now the plants are starvingfor moisture which is retreating deeper into the • soil every day. - "The soya seem to be surviving the best of any crops," Overholt said. "The white beans -- the colour is there, but they don't -seem to be making any progress." -. Overholt lost an entire field of - corn to frost. It was in a low-lying arca in Hay swamp. • The corn stens which were un- touched stand little chance against the drought. ' "We have it insured, but by the time. they average it out with the crop here at home, it won't come to much," Overholt said of the lost. corn, underlining a major flaw in the crop insurance program. - "I don't think I've ever .seen the com look so bad." Kirkton-area farmer Glen Lam- port had a 10 -acre test -plot of no - till corn nearly spoiled by frost. He • maintains it would have been in - better shape than his other crops if it hadn't been touched earlier. But even in these adverse conditions, the test -plot is hanging on. "They're still growing -- amaz- ingly," Lamport said. "I was quite proud of it until the frost hit." Crop insurance issues boil over in heat As the ground gets drier, crop insurance be- comes more popular as a topic of conversation among farmers. Minister of agriculture and food Jack Riddell found himself fielding numerous questions on the subject during his crop tour through Southern Ontario last week. Sortie felt his answers weren't adequate. While many farmers in the arca maintain crop insurance is an absolute must, many more feel the returns don't justify the premiums -- and they gamble. 1 furon County has an abundance of crop insu- rance buyers. Roughly fifty percent of cash -crop farmers- in the arca buy it while just 28 perccnt of farmers in Ontario take advantage of the sys- tem -- perhaps an indication of the system's inad- equacy. - As it stands now, Ontario farmers receive cov- erage on 80 percent of their total -average yield, calculated over alive -Year period. The cost of Vic premium is divided equally between the farmcr and the federal government, while the province picks up the administration costs. Farmers are calling for increase in coverage to 90 percent to offset the rising cost of produc- tion. Some are asking that the provincial govern- ment shoulder a portion of the premiums as well. Ridded said Thursday he was infavourof 90 percent coverage and he agrees the province should help with premiums, but hc passed the re- sponsibility on to the federal government, claim- ing crop insurance comes under a federal act. - Riddell also pointed out that, of 26 recommen- dations made by a special committee set up to ir icw the system, 20 have been carrell out. Recommendations ignored Terry Baynard, manager of the Oniit lo corn I'rotluccrs Marketing litxtrd, said Monday 1,e' err ominendations for change in the crop insuiance system were ignored. "If those changes that were rccomnicitded for the 1988, crops had been made for the 1988 sea - :on, the crops insured would have been far great- er," Daynard explained: Daynard said the insurance no longer covers high priced production costs. "If 1 was to have a 50 percent loss in my corn rip, only a third of my financial loss would bc :Daynard3ut doesn't lace the blame for the tcm's failure on Riddell. -. It's not the minister himself, but there seems to.tr a bunch of bureaucrats who won't listen to the i:anners ncccis," Daynard said, adding that Rid- dell has been committed to better insurance cov- erage for some time. "But he's (Riddell) not a magician. He still has people he has to rely on to get things done." The corn producers' manager expressed frustration - over the buck -passing which seems to bc going on between the federal and provincial governments. "Instead of blaming each other, if they'd just co- operate we wouldn't bc in thc situation we're in now. "We don't know who's to blame. We just know the things that have happened shouldn't have hap- pened." Does its job Peter Roy, a crop insurance representative in Clin- ton, explained that the system still docs what it was set up 10 do when it was established in 1966 -- it covers thc cost of -production should a farmer suffer substantial crop damage. - Admitting there- is room for improvement in the system, Roy insisted progress was being made. As of 1986, a 20 percent reduction in premiums is al- lowed if a farmcr has paid more into the system than hc has claimed. New buyers originally began with 70 percent cov- erage and worked their way up to the 80percent lev- el over a three-year. period. Newcomers now begin at the 75 perccnt icvcl. "Farmers can't say the premium is too expensive with the government subsidy in there," Roy added. "What a farmcr should -get -is -two dollars -for every one he puts in. Compared to car insurance or fire in- surance. it's probably the better buy." Roy also supports the 90 perccnt coverage idea. "If they went to 90 percent coverage, nobody should complain. it would be a much better sys- tem." Insurance concerns Crediton arca farmcr Darrel Finkbeiner has crop insurance and expects he will have to file a claim this year, explaining that his rutabaga . crops are in poor shape. . "It's uneven arid there's some that arc just dying in the fields," he said. - While Finkbeiner finds crop insurance expensive, he feels it is worth it. But what he fears is a drought relief program from the government that would not benefit those who already paid for insurance. "I don't mind a drought payout so long as it's for everybody, including those who have crop insu- rance," he said. • Finkbcincr docs not want to sec a repeat of I086's relief -to rain -bound crops, which he claims nude crop insurance appear unnecessary. Riddell addressed such concerns Thursday. saying only that he had no intention of undermining the crop insurance system: • 00 70 50 30 10 mm Growing season rainfall: average, 1987,1988 in millimetres to date • 1988 march April may June duly data supplied by the London weather office Everyone knows the weather has been unseasonally dry, perhaps qualifying as a genuine drought, but. exactly how dry is dry? This graph, with a lifesize depth chart for rainfall, tells the whole story. June and July rainfall have so far proven to be a mere fraction of what this arca is used to receiving. Normally we can wade in -73.6 millimetres of rain in an average June, but this year we had only 9.6mm fall on our crops and lawns: a mere 13 perccnt of the usual. July has surpassed June's rainfall already with 10,4 millimetres falling Sunday night. Unfortunately with half thc month already gone, there is little chance we will reach the 72.4mm average. if there is any comfort to be found in this, perhaps farmers can credit May's slightly above average rain- fall with keeping their crops going this far. . Drought Report stories and photos by Mark Bisset and Adrian Harte