There have been only a few exceptions, says crop expert

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Charles Perry
Weather

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In general, most crops in New Brunswick are doing well this year.

That was the word from Shirlyn Coleman of Fredericton, manager of the crop section for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture, commenting on how the various crops have fared this year against a weather mix of a snowy winter with a lengthy snow cover, a rainy spring and a hot, muggy first two weeks of July.

Coleman said the hay came through the winter in good shape. But all the rain in June and the muggy weather in July, she said, is holding up its harvest.

"Thirty to 50 per cent of the crop is good, but because of the humidity in the air, the hay is not getting a chance to dry, making harvesting difficult," she said. However, Environment Canada is predicting mild but dry weather will prevail in the province the rest of the week.

Regarding potatoes, Coleman said they were not able to harvest a lot of the early potatoes due to the spring rains. But with the hot, sunny weather arriving in July, she said the potato producers were able to catch up and indications are it should be a good year for potatoes.

Strawberries are being harvested right now, she said, and they appear to be in top-notch shape this year. "The size (of the individual berries) also appears to be good. They (strawberry growers) seem to be in for a good yield."

She said deep snow cover over the winter played a major role in the yield by protecting the fruit from frost damage.

For the same reason, blueberries emerged from the past winter with not a lot of damage being reported, said Coleman. They have done well so far around the province, she said, noting the one possible exception might be in northeastern New Brunswick.

In that area, she explained there is a chance the rain may have slowed down the bees in the pollination process. "It is a wait and see situation there now," she said.

Coleman said apple growth has been good his year and an above-average crop is being predicted. The same as with blueberries, she said apples also benefit from a good winter's snow cover.

It has been a great year for the silage crops, she said, noting they have already been harvested. Coleman said they not only had a "good winter survival rate" because of the snow cover, but were enhanced by a rainy spring.

Roger Tremblay of Fredericton, small fruit/cranberry specialist for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture, said the snow cover over the winter helped protect raspberries in much of the province. But in the northern areas, he said there may have been too much snow cover.

There was so much weight, said Tremblay, that it broke through during the melting, pulling off the fruit's buds in some of the farms.

n Charles Perry's Weather appears daily.