After the incredibly wet and cold spring in the Fraser Valley it seems that the corn season is delayed for another 2-3 weeks. According to local farmer Ian Sparkers his corn is usually fully grown and ready to be sold by mid-July however, due to the wet spring it’s gonna be another 2-3 weeks before his corn is ready to be harvested. Corn farmers need dry soil so they can work the field and plant crops but this year they barely got two dry days in a row. Also the increadly inconsistent temperatures of the summer have not helped as corn needs around 30 C for ideal growing temperatures.The past year has done nothing to help as according to Lenore Newman, the director of the food and agriculture institute at UFV, “we’ve had fires, we’ve had floods, we’ve had, you know, the heat dome. And this long, wet spring just felt like an insult to injury. We need a break in the farm sector.”
It appears that the corn season will be delayed for an additional two to three weeks in the Fraser Valley after an exceptionally rainy and frigid spring. According to local farmer Ian Sparkers, his corn generally reaches full maturity and is prepared for sale by mid-July; but, because of the rainy spring, it will take an additional two to three weeks before it is ready for harvest. In order to work the field and plant crops, corn farmers require dry soil, but this year they hardly even received two dry days in a row. As corn needs about 30 C for optimal growth temperatures, the summer’s wildly fluctuating temps haven’t helped either.The past year has done nothing to help as according to Lenore Newman, the director of the food and agriculture institute at UFV, “we’ve had fires, we’ve had floods, we’ve had, you know, the heat dome. And this long, wet spring just felt like an insult to injury. We need a break in the farm sector”.
This unpredictable weather will result in a shorter selling season as corn sales tend to slow down after Labour Day stated B.C.’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Sparkes also reports that he will likely be seeing a 30 to 50 percent decrease in corn sales this year. Gurmukh Baydal, a farmer from Abbotsford is also facing delays caused by the wet water as he planted 20 percent less corn this year. Farmers are staying optimistic though and hoping this hot weather continues for the foreseeable future to help grow and sweeten their corn. Although corn farmers are not the only ones in this situation as Newman says “[she doesn’t] think there’s a single crop now that’s had an uninterrupted growing season.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/corn-delays-fraser-valley-weather-1.6518474