Farmers taking a beating

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This article was published 28/07/2010 (5778 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mother Nature delivered another kick in the teeth to local grain farmers as two severe thunderstorms swept through southern Manitoba Monday night causing severe crop damage.

Two of the hardest hit areas were near Elie, west of Winnipeg, and LaSalle, south of the city.

But hail-damage reports were also coming in Tuesday from farmers in the Oakbank and Dugald areas east of Winnipeg, and from the Tyndall and Beausejour areas to the northeast, said a spokesman for the Manitoba Agriculture Services Corp.

David Koroscil, manager of insurance projects and sales, said the corporation received more than 45 hail-insurance claims Tuesday from the Elie-Starbuck-LaSalle areas, and another four from the Oakbank-Dugald-Tyndall-Beausejour areas.

“We may get more in the next couple of days because farmers are supposed to go out and check their fields before they phone in a claim, and some are probably still in the process of doing that,” Koroscil added.

Elie grain farmer Scott Shirtliff said his family had about 1,000 acres of grain damaged by hail stones, some of which were larger than golf balls. He estimated the damage to their crops alone was in the tens of thousands of dollars.

“We’ve been beat down so much this year,” Shirtliff said, adding his family also has another 900 acres where the grain was either drowned out or badly damaged by overland flooding earlier in the year. “There won’t be any money made here this year.”

The same storm that hit the Elie and LaSalle areas also dumped rain and hail in the Starbuck area.

Starbuck grain farmer Chuck Fossay said it looked like he and three brothers dodged a bullet Monday, even though some of the hail that fell was the size of tennis balls.

“I was driving around this morning and as far as I can tell there wasn’t any major damage,” Fossay said.

This latest assault from Mother Nature came at a critical time for Shirtliff and many other Manitoba grain farmers. Their winter wheat and some other their early-seeded crops are ready to be harvested, and other crops should be ready within the next couple of weeks. So the last thing they need right now is more rain and hail.

Koroscil confirmed any crops that suffer extensive hail damage now are likely a writeoff because it’s too late in the season to bounce back.

What farmers need now, Fossay said, is a couple of weeks of warm, dry weather. That would allow the rest of the grain to ripen and for farmers to start harvesting the crops that are ready to be cut.

“That would also allow the fields to dry up a bit… and for the roads to harden up a bit.”

He said he and his brothers expect to start harvesting their barley next week, but their spring wheat and oats are still about two weeks away from being ready to cut.

Shirtliff said he was going to start cutting his family’s winter wheat on Tuesday. Now it will likely be Thursday before it’s dry enough to get at what’s left to harvest.

This has been another summer of discontent for many Manitoba grain producers in the wake of the wettest spring on record on the Prairies and a summer that’s also been plagued by too much rain in many areas.

“There isn’t a region of the province that doesn’t have some damaged areas,” said Keystone Agriculture Producers president Ian Wishart.

Wishart said the Interlake and areas west of Lake Manitoba have been particularly wet. And for Arborg-area farmers, this is the third consecutive year they’ve been pummeled with excessive amounts of rain.

“Farmers are eternal optimists. They’re trying to make the best of it, but their spirits are not the best. There are some that are pretty depressed,” said Wishart.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

Foul-weather fallout

What happened: Two severe thunderstorms swept through southern Manitoba Monday night.

One hit south of Elie and tracked in an east-southeasterly direction between Sanford and Oak Bluff. While those communities received rain and hail — some the size of golf balls and tennis balls — the areas around La Salle and Elie were the hardest hit.

The second storm came off Lake Winnipeg and tracked southeast through the Beausejour, Tyndall, Oakbank and Dugald areas. It also dumped rain and large hailstones.

The damage: Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. (MASC), which administers the provincial crop insurance program, received more than 45 hail-damage claims from the areas west and south of the city, and four from the areas to the east and northeast. More could arrive in the next few days after farmers finish inspecting their fields.

The running tally: MASC has received more than 400 hail-damage claims since the start of the summer storm season, which is fewer than usual for this time of year. The average annual tally is about 1,900, and the hail season is usually over by early September.

— Source: MASC