Over the last week, the remnants of Hurricane Beryl dumped a whopping 75 mm of rain over the region. The deluge flooded streets, backyards, wiped away gardens and poured into basements around Flamborough.
But for the region’s farmers, the inches of rain water now sitting in the low-lying points of their fields pose a danger to the turnout of their crops.
That’s the case for Shawn Brenn, co-owner of Brenn-B Farms in Flamborough, and his fields of potatoes, corn, rye, wheat and herbs.
“All the fields have standing water in them,” he said, adding that this growing season has already seen excessive rain. “We already had drowned out areas. Those are just bigger now.”
Brenn said some areas of his fields now have up to seven inches of standing water in them. And beneath the water are crops, vulnerable to fungal growth.
The crops most at risk are the ones planted later in the season, Brenn said, because the soil is more loamy. Earlier season crops are in more sandy soil, which he said is less absorbent.
In one of Brenn’s fields, a deep pond of standing water from a neighbour was draining out into one of his fields in a small stream.
“It’ll take time to really assess how much damage has been done,” Brenn said.
One issue his crops face is that potato leaves create a canopy, which makes it harder to see if there is water pooling beneath. Potato crops that are over-watered in the heat have a risk of getting blight, a fungus that can destroy a crop.
Brenn said the farm is spraying its crops to combat blight, but to get equipment out into the field is difficult with all of the mud, which their equipment can get stuck in.
If the fields dry out in the next week, Brenn said he and his employees are going to begin harvesting potatoes. But drying the fields takes time, especially when some parts are covered in inches of water.
“The best cure is wind,” he said.
Farmer says field flooding is getting worse
This isn’t the first time Brenn-B Farms has had flooded fields, Brenn said, but he has noticed it is more widespread this time.
Brenn-B Farms covers 2,000 acres across Flamborough, spread out over 35 properties, and Brenn said the flooding has damaged most of those fields.
Ward 15 Coun. Ted McMeekin said the flooding over the past week has been “no surprise” to him.
“This is not a new reality as low-lying lands, including farmlands, are always - in the presence of heavy rain - at risk,” he said.
But Brenn said he has noticed the increasing frequency of those heavy rains.
“Before we would see a very isolated path come through, and it would be certain fields we would see get lots of moisture, but I think now with climate change, we see more severe weather more frequently,” Brenn said.
McMeekin also pointed to climate change and more severe weather patterns as something Flamborough farmers will have to contend with.
“There is no doubt in my mind that climate change has and will continue to present significant challenges,” he said.
McMeekin said the city is working on clearing all of the culverts and drainage ditches in Hamilton’s rural areas, to help drain out the water.
