Island potato growers worried about lack of rain in August 

Potato growers in some parts of P.E.I. are worried about the lack of rainfall in August as they watch their potato plants shrivelling in the field.

The area around Malpeque Bay has been particularly dry, with some fields receiving a quarter of the rainfall in August that they usually see. Elsewhere there has been more rain, said Ryan Barrett, research and agronomy specialist with the Prince Edward Island Potato Board. 

"There's parts of the province, like around Charlottetown, where there was almost a normal amount of rain, and the crop looks quite good, and they're expecting a good crop," Barrett said.

"There are parts of the Island that got 15 and 20 per cent of their normal rainfall, especially in parts of West Prince, parts of East Prince."

Barrett said he has a trial field in the Cascumpec area that got only about 15 millimetres of rain in August, and is obviously showing signs of water stress.

"It's leading to potato plants that are either dying early, or shutting down early, not growing," he said. "They may be hanging on, but they're not really bulking any tubers."

Barrett said the lack of rain in August was unfortunate because the crop got off to a really good start in 2024, with most fields planted by the end of May.

"June and July were almost perfect in terms of weather — the right amount of heat, the right amount of rainfall — and things were off pretty good start," he said.

"It's just unfortunate that in August, we didn't kind of get the rain when we needed it."

Barrett said between 20 and 25 growers in the province have irrigation systems, with about 10 per cent of the total crop irrigated.

He said some growers have the majority of their crop irrigated while others water only two or three fields, depending on their markets and the varieties they are growing.

"All the growers that have irrigation have definitely had them going this year. I'd say a lot of the farms are on their fifth or sixth irrigation pass on a lot of fields," Barrett said. 

"The last two or three years there's been a lot of people that invested in irrigation, and they didn't even have to turn them on once because we had adequate rainfall. But now, this year, that supplemental irrigation is very much necessary."

Barrett said many growers are hoping for enough rainfall in September to bulk up crops, but not too much.  About 75 to 100 millimetres would be ideal.