B.C. farmers will be asking governments for compensation because of an abnormally rainy late summer and early fall across the province.
“Exactly how much money farmers will be asking for is not clear at this point,” said Robert Butler, administrator for the BC Potato and Vegetable Growers Association. “It’s bad. I was out in gumboots and it was up above my calf. You just can’t pick the stuff. You can’t afford to.”
Butler said that both provincial and federal dollars flow into an “agri-recovery” fund used to compensate farmers for catastrophic events such as floods.
He said losses will be in the tens of millions of dollars and could well top $35 million.
Cranberry farmer Peter Dhillon told Business in Vancouver last week that he was expecting a dismal cranberry crop.
“There just wasn’t much pollination because of all the rain,” he explained.
Other cranberry farmers have similarly complained about cool weather stunting their berries’ growth.
Harvest season for cranberries has started in earnest. B.C. is one of the largest cranberry growing regions in the world.
The province produces about 95% of all the cranberries harvested in Canada, or about 36 million kilograms, valued at about $30 million.