Organic crops threatened by heat

By Adam Peleshaty
Glacier FarmMedia staff

Early summer rains in the Prairies gave way to hotter and drier conditions in July, which caused stress in some organic crops.

Scott Shiels, grain procurement manager at Grain Millers Inc. in Yorkton, Sask. said while crop conditions were “fantastic” in most areas, there were some places which needed more moisture. He added that timely rains in mid-August would serve crops well prior to harvest.

“In some areas, we’re probably going to be looking for rain over the next few days to the next week just to keep things going in a positive direction,” Shiels said. “If we get too much heat here and no rain in the next week or so, things might start to go backwards.”

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Jason Breault, general manager of RW Organics near Mossbank, Sask., said the harvest for some crops could start as soon as mid-August, but rains are needed to maintain quality.

“Right now, everything is still okay. The (crops) that were seeded earlier are turning real quick. The ones that haven’t headed out yet, they need rain ASAP,” he added. “Overall, it looks better than last year, but it could go from a good crop to an average crop with this long heat.”

Ken Richmond, who farms near St. Andrews, Man. and works as a procurement manager for O&T Farms in Regina, said the eastern Prairies are in good shape compared to central Alberta, where persistent heat and dryness have negatively affected crops.

While Manitoba and parts of Saskatchewan are in good shape, the humidity could pose another problem.

“We could see some fusarium problems this year. There’s talk of it anyhow. I guess we’ll see when the crop comes off,” Richmond said. “We were headed for a bumper crop. Not so sure it’s one now.”

Demand for organic crops is in a seasonal standstill, according to Shiels, but activity may start to pick up in August.

“Buyers are kind of watching the crop grow. The farmers are watching the crop grow,” he said. “Give us three or four weeks … If we get closer to harvest, we’ll see some things change.”

According to Breault, buying activity could start soon.

“(Buyers) are starting to talk now because they’re seeing a mini-drought,” said Breault. “There’s a little bit of demand (and) prices are down.”

Shiels added that organic premiums compared to conventional crops have stayed the same for oats and flax over the past few weeks, while those for wheat have grown slightly. However, Richmond countered that pea premiums grew while flax premiums became smaller.

Dean Martin of Harrow Organic Farm in Harrow and Pelee Island, Ont. said winter wheat is approximately 75 per cent harvested. Looking at fields in southern Ontario, he is not as optimistic as his Prairie counterparts.

“I would guess that yields would be below normal because of so much rain early on,” Martin said. “Soybeans have had too much rain and got planted late. Corn is probably pretty good … Wheat for the most part is probably normal.”

Organic Council of Ontario (OCO) director Ian Anderson, who farms buckwheat, spelt and other organic crops near Port Hope, Ont., added that growing conditions have been excellent so far with the possible exception of soybeans.

Just like canola in the Prairies, Anderson hopes his buckwheat crop can withstand hotter temperatures.

“The most active period for buckwheat is the fifth and sixth week when it’s flowering. If the heat gets up too much, you’re going to lose yield. We’re hoping temperatures will level off a little bit in August,” he said.

Meanwhile, Anderson and his fellow OCO board members discussed the number of sellers branding products with organic-like identifiers such as “regenerative”, “natural” and “organic method”, but whose ingredients weren’t produced organically.

“For the organic movement, I think it’s going to be very important that we have legal identifying credentials,” Anderson said. “We’re not an adjective sector. We’re a noun sector. Organic means something.”