Area farmers ride the rainfall rollercoaster

How has heavy rainfall affected crop yields? Farmers say this growing season has been a rainfall rollercoaster. As Gerry Dewan reports, crops need a break from major rain events.

Area farmers continue to ride the rainfall rollercoaster, as rain events have moved across our region throughout the summer.

Agriculture experts say crops are going to need a break in order to limit the impacts of the deluge.

Pearson International Airport reported a record 128.3 millimeters of rain on Saturday. Streets and highways in Mississauga filled with rain, stranding many drivers.

Agronomist Pete Johnson said the rains didn't just take a toll on the roads, "Some of these storms are dropping three, four inches of rain – 100mm of rain – within 45 minutes. The soil just can't tolerate that.”

Johnson hosts the popular podcast Wheat Pete’s Word, part of the Real Agriculture information service.

Looking out on pools of water on a field near Thorndale on Tuesday morning, Johnson told CTV News, “All the water runs to the low spots. It sits there and ponds. Once it ponds 48 hours, the crop is dead."

Johnson stressed that heavy rainfalls take an immediate toll, "If it's a big rain drop when it hits bare soil, some people equate that to an atomic bomb hitting the soil. It just explodes and really impacts the fine soil particles at the surface.”

He notes that bean crops have been hardest hit, "Things like the blood beans that go in tomato sauce and that you buy in the Libby's deep brown beans. Or the bush beans that you would buy in the grocery store. The pinto beans. Things that you would put in your chili, the cranberry beans. So it's dry edible beans that we see in many, many dishes. Those plants do not have a good root system."

Most Ontario farmers take steps to limit flood impacts, including using crop rotation to keep the soil healthy and drainage tiles. Johnson said the tiles have their limits during heavy rainfalls.

"I think yields probably will be down a bit. Whether the quality will be down remains to be seen," said Crispin Colvin.

Colvin is the regional director in Middlesex and Lambton for the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA). He notes the yellowing of leaves on many bean plants is a sign they are stressed and at risk, but he’s seeing many plants bounce back after just a few days of sun, "The resilience of the crop is really amazing. When you look at the beans that are here and how they've come back from what could have been a disastrous year."

Johnson said for some crops, what's needed now is – believe it or not – a little more rain. Just not too much, "For it to go into a drought condition now would really hurt the late rainfall process on things like soybeans and corn, and the later maturing crops. They're shallow rooted. They need some moisture – an inch a week, something like that."

Still, for the most part, the key is to have more sunny days and warmer temperatures into harvest season.

According to Colvin, “We rely on mother nature. Last year, too hot. This year, too wet. Next year will be perfect."