Crops Shifting To 'Survival Mode'

Jun 07, 2021

With the extreme heat this week, crops will need rain.

Bill Campbell is the president of Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) and also farms near Minto.

"I've noticed significant drying of even where the crops are germinated and growing, of the topsoil. It's gotten to be extremely dry. How they handle the next little while, I think the next seven to ten days will dictate a significant direction in which our crop is going to go. If it's longer than ten days without significant rainfall, we may be in serious trouble."

He says the high heat and lack of moisture has caused crops to go into survival mode.

"I've noticed here even in the last five days that our forage establishments are actually going backwards. I have a hay field that I spread fertilizer on and now looked at it and it's burning up and there's no grazing on it. Our pastures, there's limited regrowth, limited resources left in the yard to feed the cattle. I would say by the 15th of June, will be very pivotal as to what happens, especially in the southwestern part of the province."

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