‘Been on the downside’: Wet spring delays seeding for farmers

The warm weather is spiking early tourism across Simcoe County and Muskoka.

As the sun shines and people begin to spend more time outdoors, farmers have been anxiously awaiting a string of dry weather to begin their seeding process.

Kevin Eisses from Hewitt Creek Farms said the wet spring has put them slightly behind.

“The rains making the soil conditions not perfect for planting and we only get one chance to plant a crop,” said Eisses. “So we like to make sure everything’s in good shape when we do it.”

Certain crops will have increased yields the sooner they go in the ground, leaving Eisses eager to get out in the fields.

“A crop like oats typically do better when they’re in earlier,” said Eisses. “We haven’t been able to get it planted because of the wet weather.”

Dave Phillips, climatologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said the Barrie area has seen a 55 per cent increase in precipitation this year, with more rain than usual this spring.

“There is never a straight line between winter and summer,” said Phillips. “There’s always this up and down, back and forth, and this year, it’s been really on the downside.”

The warm, sunny conditions could be here to stay.

“In the future we see it being warm,” said Phillips. “The days are longer. We have now almost twice as many daylight hours that we have nighttime hours.”

It’s allowing farmers like Eisses to seed and grow the largest crop they can.

“We need to grow the most yield we can and so when we get delayed and things aren’t perfect for planting a crop, it does cause some anxiety because our opportunities for breaking even are going to be tough this year,” said Eisses.