It was a wet spring, and summer isn't much better. August is just a few days away and farmers are still dealing with wet fields.
Celine Cloutier of Marche Gauthier Market in Sturgeon Falls, says they lost 65% of their produce early on, a lot of it root vegetables.
"Because of all the rain we've gotten, we've had a lot of problems with slugs and worms in our vegetables. We've had a lot of produce go bad before it was even ready. We had to throw it all out. We've had a lot of loss this summer. We need a lot of sunshine to be able to catch up," said Cloutier. "Corn season is coming so we're hoping that that's going to make up for the loss in the other vegetables."
Wayne Chalmers of Spring Hill Farms in Trout Creek, just rehired two workers he was forced to lay-off because of the weather. At the time, he didn't have enough work for them because there wasn't the usual amount of harvesting going on.
He too lost some crops from rot. After one particularly heavy downfall, his 22 inch culverts were washed out because they couldn't handle the amount of water pouring through at one time.
Some area farmers say they've taken a big financial hit, but Chalmers says things are starting to turn around.
"We've got the guys back, they're all working again.Things are coming along slowly but we still need heat. The blueberries are starting, I've got a bumper crop, so everybody is going to be busy."
However, some produce normally available in abundance at this time of year, is still lagging behind.
"The zucchini is a little slow, the yellow beans are a bit behind, mostly because we lost the first couple plantings because of the heavy rain, so we had to replant," said Chalmers."The size of things aren't what you might expect, and they aren't ripening as fast, but they're coming along. Squash are coming along quite nicely actually, they love the rain."
Granite Ridge Farm, located in Verner, doesn't expect consumers will bear the brunt of a dismal growing season.
"Last year it was really dry, and we were about two weeks ahead of where we are this year, but I don't think this year's late start will impact prices," said Darryl Keupfer.
Green houses are saving farmers this year, but even there, the lack of sunshine is having some impact.
Farmers say they have no choice but to keep plugging away, hoping for nicer weather for their fall crops.
