Help sought for drought-affected farms
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The Ottawa Valley has the worst heat and drought devastation Mark Wales has seen.
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture president went on a cross-county tour Monday, checking out dairy, beef, vegetable, corn, hay and bean farms.
The worst-devastated is corn, which does all its growing in July. Much of the Ottawa Valley region received little more than 1 mm of rain that month. The result is stunted corn cobs, less than half the size they’re supposed to be.
Many of them are already rotten and practically worthless.
Wales said the wheels are in motion for farmers to receive some sort of assistance — either a cash subsidy or replacement feed stock.
“Hopefully, the government will find some money,” said Wales.
“People need to realize that even though we’ve had a little rain recently, the corn is damaged for the season. It’s going to be next year before it comes back.”
The story is also bad for hay, which should be knee-high by now, ready to be cut.
It is not. Worse still, the hay is blooming, an indicator it is done growing for the season.
For dairy and beef farmers, that means they must replace the feed stock they rely on.
Local hay has more than doubled in price due to the drought and some farmers are considering ordering citrus pulp from Florida as a reasonable replacement for feed corn.
Even with the import fees, the pulp is cheaper than buying local feed corn, made expensive due to the drought.
Twitter: @DougHempstead
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