After missing recent rainfall that soaked nearby areas like Portage la Prairie on Canada Day, farmers in the MacGregor region were growing increasingly concerned about crop conditions amid rising heat and dry forecasts.
Lorne Hulme of Hulme Agra Products shared these words just before Thursday night, when his operation, located four miles south of MacGregor, hadn’t previously seen any meaningful rain in weeks.
“We haven’t had any rain,” he noted earlier in the week.
While crops are still looking decent, Hulme warns the situation could quickly turn if conditions don’t improve.
“The crop looks fairly good right now, but we’re going to need some rain soon because we missed the one the other night. We’re going to need some rain to finish the crop off, and we haven’t had it yet.”
Heat and timing play critical roles
Hulme explains that the crop's survival depends heavily on temperatures over the coming days.
“Well, it depends. It’s temperature-dependent. I know it’s supposed to be quite hot today and tomorrow, but if it stays hot, we need something quite soon. If it cools off to around 23 to 25 degrees, then the crop will hang on longer.”
He adds that minor showers won’t be enough to help at this stage.
“Two or three-tenths isn’t going to do it anymore either. We need half an inch or an inch of rain to keep things going.”
Thunderstorms miss key areas
Hulme notes that recent precipitation in the region has been highly localized and unreliable. While Portage received much rain on Canada Day, MacGregor did not get any of it.
“It’s just been thunderstorms. If you’re in the right spot, you get a bunch of rain. If you’re in the wrong spot, you don’t get anything. That’s just the nature of thunderstorms. If we got it, like I understood that right in the city of Portage, there was about an inch of rain. That would have made a big difference out here.”
Wide variety of crops at risk
Hulme’s operation grows a broad range of crops including wheat, barley, oats, canola, soybeans, corn and edible beans.
“We grow pretty well everything.”
The earlier-seeded crops were faring better, but those planted later began showing signs of stress.
“The earlier crops are getting along better than the later ones because when it got hot and dry, they were further advanced. So they’ve got a better chance of making it. Anything that was seeded later is going to be suffering.”
A familiar pattern for seasoned farmers
With over four decades of farming experience, Hulme says these challenges are part of the job.
“There’ve been years like this off and on all through the time I’ve been farming. Then there have been other years where this time of year, there’s been water lying in the fields. Every year is different. I’ve never seen two the same.”
The uncertainty is part of the risk farmers take, Hulme says, noting that weather always plays a major role in success or failure.
“If we didn’t have the weather factor to deal with, being a farmer would be pretty simple and straightforward. But it’s the weather factor. We go out and we spend millions of dollars to plant our crops and we hope that we’ll get it back.”
Crop insurance offers uncertain safety net
Hulme said earlier in the week that it was too soon to tell whether this year will become a total loss or require support from crop insurance.
“It’s hard to say. We’ve got a fairly good-looking crop right now, but if there’s no rain at all, it’s going to go back to average to start with, and then if there continues to be no rain, it’s going to go to below average. Whether it went to crop insurance or not, it’s hard to say.”
The bottom line
It did rain Thursday night and it was near half an inch. But that's the name of the game in farming. Hulme sums up the farmer’s reality plainly.
“If you can’t handle that, you shouldn’t be a farmer.”
-with photo files by Johnathon Mayer