Weather, high costs, labour top of mind as P.E.I. farmers prepare to plant their crops
CBC
Songbirds chirped in the spring sun at John Visser's potato farm in Victoria, P.E.I., on Thursday — as his nearby red-dirt fields waited to be plowed and sown for the year, and workers bagged what's left of last year's spuds.
The mild weather in recent months has many P.E.I. farmers reflecting on what's in store for their crops this year, as some say signs from Mother Nature point toward a promising start for the upcoming growing season, likely within weeks.
"Every year is different," Visser, who's also chair of the P.E.I. Potato Board, told CBC News in his farm yard surrounded by parked farm equipment.
"You go into the year hoping that the work that you're going to do is going to do the job, that it gets done, [and] you're gonna have some money left over at the end of it."
As climate change brings less predictable conditions for the Island's food producers, Visser told CBC News it's still too early in the year to say for sure how this season will play out.
But there are plenty of promising signs: The days are getting longer, the ice once covering his fields has melted, the sun is shining, and the soil is drying up nicely.
There was only one major snowstorm this winter, too.
Visser said though it would have been good to see the ground covered with snow a little longer, "We take what what we get from Mother Nature."
But that doesn't necessarily mean Island growers will have smooth sailing from here.
Visser said the costs to operate farms have soared higher in the last few years than he's ever seen, a big cause for concern.
"Just seems to be no end to it," he said. "This is my 46th crop ... and it just adds to the stress and just the cost.
"You're dealing in much bigger numbers, real quick."
The P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture said it's hearing a lot of those concerns about skyrocketing expenses, too.
"We have lots of input costs," said Keisha Rose Topic, the federation's president. "Fertilizer had been up very high the last few years.
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