Hot weather pushes Quebec produce to early harvest

Quebec farmers say hot weather has ripened crops early, making for an abundant — and slightly sweeter — harvest season.

Quebec farmers are saying the hot weather in recent days means their produce is sweeter. It also means some crops have ripened faster and are ready to be harvested already.

Tomato season came early this year in Rougemont. At Potager Mont-Rouge Halte Gourmand, farmer Philippe Beauregard is harvesting his Italian tomatoes two weeks ahead of schedule.

Biting into one, Beauregard says, “Look at that, it’s red till the very flesh of the tomato. So that’s ready!”

He added: “Usually we have this around mid-August. And now we’re early August, and everything is ready to be picked.”

Patrice Leger Bourgoin of the Quebec Vegetable Growers Association says this year’s heat is helping crops.

“The sweet corn is sweet, so it’s perfect,” he said. “It’s a good season so far, so our growers are happy even though in a certain area it’s a little bit tougher because we have some episodes of heavy rains.”

Storms like the on July 13 can set back a whole harvest, says Beauregard. “The worst thing is when we have, you know, such a big rainstorm. We can see the damage only a few weeks after the rainstorm. An excess of water in that really short period of time.”

There hasn’t been much rain since then, which is also worrisome to growers, says Bourgoin. “It’s going to be a problem at the beginning of next week if we don’t receive a little bit of rain.”

Farmers are taking advantage of the early crops to get as much of their produce to customers, and those customers will be spoiled for choice.

“The pressure is there to provide volume for their retail or the public market and the farmers market,” Leger said.

Beauregard adds: “There is no reason not to buy Quebec produce in the next few weeks for sure.”