Lorne Hulme of Hulme Agra Products, located south of MacGregor, says Monday’s rainfall delivered a much-needed boost to crops following a long stretch of dry conditions.
“We were getting pretty dry,” Hulme says. “It was a nice rain this morning. It’s certainly going to help a lot.”
He explains that although light showers had passed through the area in previous weeks, they offered only minimal benefit.
“They were so light that the help they would give is... I don’t want to use the word insignificant, but just very minimal,” Hulme says. “This morning we had about a half inch of rain, and that’s enough to make a difference to everything.”
Earlier showers too shallow to reach roots
Hulme says while scattered rain did fall in June and July, it typically came in small increments—what farmers call “two-tenths” of an inch.
“We’ve had several of those,” Hulme says. “But a two-tenths rain just isn’t anywhere near like a five-tenths rain. This is enough rain that it’ll soak down into the soil and get into the roots.”
He adds that smaller amounts of rain often evaporate or fail to penetrate past the dry upper layer of soil.
“There’s more evaporation, and it’s just not enough moisture to get through the dry zone on the top of the soil and get down into the roots,” Hulme notes.
Timing critical for later crops
While the recent rainfall may have arrived too late to significantly help early-season crops, Hulme says it is well-timed for others.
“This rain has come in time to definitely make a difference for later crops such as edible beans, corn, and soybeans,” Hulme says. “Some of the earlier crops—it’s going to help them some too, but probably not to the same extent.”
He notes that earlier-seeded crops benefited more from June’s rainfall, while later crops were still vulnerable when the dry spell took hold.
Too early to judge final outcome
Despite the improvement, Hulme cautions that the season’s outcome won’t be known until harvest.
“There’s no way of knowing for sure until you get the combine in the field,” Hulme says. “We’ve had years where the crop didn’t look that great and it turned out pretty good. And other years where the crop looked very good, and it was only average once you got the combine in there.”
Still, with more precipitation in the forecast, he remains hopeful.
“We’re going to need more rain,” Hulme says. “This is nice for today, but this is not going to make the crop when we get there.”
A million-dollar moment
Reflecting on the impact of the latest downpour, Hulme shares how he summed it up to his staff.
“This morning the rain we had, it looked like it really could be the literal million-dollar rain,” he says.
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