Rough weather has left about 5,200 acres of potatoes unharvested in Manitoba, and the local industry is expecting to take a hit as a result.
Keystone Agricultural Producers president Bill Campbell told CBC News that after a dry summer, September brought in unusually cool and wet weather, which gave several of the later-seeded crops and the longer-season crops less time to mature.
The weather left about 8% of the provincial potato crop unharvested, Campbell added. Wet conditions also led to muddy earth, preventing farmers from taking the crop off the field.
Campbell remarked that other crops – corn, sunflowers, soy beans, cereals, and canola – also lie unharvested. But the number of acres of unharvested potatoes is unprecedented, he noted.
“It was just kind of the worst-case scenario, the way things evolved with our harvest,” he said, adding that he believes the ground will not thaw until spring.
“I believe anything that’s in the ground now will probably be unsalvageable.”
While some farmers might have crop insurance, the coverage might be limited, Campbell cautioned. Farmers who have already harvested more than what their insurance covers will not get anything from their insurance.
“Of these 5,200 acres, there’s a pretty good potential that the producers themselves will be the ones that take the shortfall in not being able to get those crops to the market and for sale,” he prefaced.
