P.E.I. farmers feel the effects of Fiona

Post-tropical storm causes widespread damage to farms across the province

Across Prince Edward Island, farmers are coming to grips with the full impact of posttropical storm Fiona.

Oceanbrae Farms’ herd of purebred milking shorthorns was relocated after their barn was destroyed.

“It’s been a huge hit to the farm, a huge loss,” said Margaret Barrett, when she spoke to Saltwire Network on Sept. 28, adding that they haven’t even begun to assess the crops that were going to feed their herd through the winter.

“For farmers, it’s not just their work, it’s their livelihood, it’s their whole being is their farm,” said Barrett. “We certainly appreciate the outpouring of support we have in our community in our friends and colleagues. That’s been wonderful.”

A crew of people was working that day on the farm in Belmont to take down the remains of the structure as she was on the phone.

In a social media post from Sept. 27, Ryan Barrett said the farm’s office, milk room and milking parlour are damaged but still functioning. Photos show the entire freestall section of the barn – where the cows spend their time when indoors – is open to the elements and the rafters are twisted and broken.

Several farms in the area have each taken in some of the family’s award-wining herd until they can rebuild.

“It is times like this that the power of community is truly felt,” read the post.

WIDESPREAD DAMAGE

At the P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture, electricity, the damaged corn crop and potato storage were the top issues on the mind of executive director Donald Killorn.

“(Our) role the last few days has simply been reestablishing connection with our commodity groups, trying to understand what’s taken place in Prince Edward Island agriculture and … to ensure the impact to agriculture is as limited as possible,” he said.

“For agriculture on Prince Edward Island, we’re facing the same issue that everyone’s facing. Our industry needs electricity to operate.”

Potato storage will become an issue as well, said Killorn.

“So far, what I’m hearing there are big producers of potatoes that have suffered catastrophic damage to their storage facilities,” he said. “While we’ve got facilities that have been damaged, a facility that doesn’t have access to electricity is equally as useless.”

Commercial generators – capable of supplying significantly more power than a portable, emergency home generator – might be a temporary solution, he said.

“We need to be answering that question about where is this commercial generation capacity, can this be part of the aid to Prince Edward Island in response to (posttropical storm) Fiona, and it’s never too early to start thinking about this problem of how we’re going to store this crop.”

CORN HIT HARD

Fiona came just as some vegetable crops were reaching their peak and feed corn was hit hard. Even so, much of the corn crop is salvageable, if it gets cut soon, said Killorn.

“We’ll need what’s called custom operators to come in and harvest the corn because of the damage it sustained,” said Killorn.

There aren’t enough of the right kind of combines in the province to get the corn in before it spoils in the field and it’s too late for farmers to simply order one.

“So now it’s a question of how much of it can we harvest. We’re talking to our partners in other Atlantic provinces to see where there’s extra capacity and if we can bring that capacity in,” he said.

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

At Red Shores Orchards in Lower Montague, Susan

Wilson was opening her U-pick and self-serve stand when Saltwire Network spoke to her Oct. 2.

She said her older trees fared out well, and there are lots of apples to pick, but their high-intensity plantings were heavily damaged with both trees and supports toppled over in the winds.

“It’s year five when they come to full maturity,” said Wilson, showing a cell video of trees folded over and big, round apples scattered on the grass.

Greg Mackenzie of Mackenzie Produce in Stratford said they spent two whole days preparing for the storm. Their staff of 15 removed the plastic from all their greenhouses and strapped together all of their pallet boxes after losing 600 in hurricane Juan in 2003, he told Saltwire Network at his farm Sept. 28.

Behind him, a tractor slowly pulled a wagonload of pumpkins toward the warehouses.

They’d rather be harvesting cabbages, he said, but with five weeks without rain leading up to Fiona, they just weren’t big enough. Now, he said it’s just as well, because there’s no place to keep them because the storage coolers don’t have any electricity.

Tania Mackenzie said some of the smallest cabbages were uprooted in the winds, and the tomatoes, peppers and jalapeno peppers were either blown over or the fruit was snapped off.

“And the beets, they’re not pulled out of the ground, but they’re kind of lifted out of the ground just a little bit,” she said. “And there’s no blueberries left – they’re flown off the bushes.”

RISKY BUSINESS

The Mackenzies had an electrician set up one of their generators to run the well, and there are several other portable engines around the farm to power the wash and packing lines. They were able to prepare an order of cabbages for a local coleslaw maker, and the Mackenzies are hoping that facility gets its power back soon, before the vegetables go to waste.

She’s not sure when the farm will reopen its farm stand, and they haven’t been getting orders from their usual wholesale buyers either.

While both the Barretts and the Mackenzies were concerned about the current state of their farms, they didn’t voice any intent to get out of the industry.

That’s not the case for everyone though, said Killorn.

“Farms are under a tremendous about of pressure on their (profit) margins, so damage to capital infrastructure like this can often be what drives a farmer out of the industry. Farmers do it because they love to farm, and something like this may take an operation that’s getting by and ultimately tip the balance sheet in a way that’s not sustainable.”

Department of Agriculture spokesperson Kip Ready said the crop insurance program, Agristability, is still assessing damage to Island farms.

Agents will be contacting all clients over the coming days as power and network connection are restored across the Island, said Ready in an email statement to Saltwire Network.

“Agristability applications can be submitted until Sept. 30, and the Department of Agriculture and Land is currently working on ways to ensure that all those in need and wish to participate are able to submit their application,” he said.

More information will be available in the coming days as site visits are conducted, and communication lines are re-established.