Farmers in one eastern Ontario county say drought conditions are so bad, it may spell the end of their family farm.
Renfrew County is on the verge of a state of emergency, as nearly a month without significant rain means crops have basically stopped growing.
Michael Donahue said he’s had to dip into his winter supply of hay to feed his 800 head of cattle.
“Basically the whole of Renfrew County is the most rain impoverished region in the province,” he said.
“I had pegged about a $40,000 profit this year . . . I’m probably looking at about a $75,000 loss.”
Donahue said he might have to sell off some of his cattle, but even those prices are down about 20 per cent.
“There are only two sides to my balance sheet, the income side and the expense side,” he said. “The income is going down and the expense is going up.”
“I’m going to have to cut my herd maybe as much as 75 per cent,” said fourth-generation hog farmer Colin Fletcher.
“You wake up every morning and first thing you think of is ‘look how dry it is’ . . . your head just starts spinning and you think ‘how am I going to survive this.’”
Fletcher said his soya beans are his only hope, and there’s only a small chance they’ll survive with a significant amount of rain.
“Financially it’s going to set me back a long way; half of my corn crop looks like it won’t produce a cob,” he said.
“At today’s prices that’s about $40,000 worth of feed that’s not going to be there.”
Both said government aid would be welcome, but there’s doubt about whether it would be offered.
“I think there’s going to have to be some disaster assistance,” said Donahue.
“It would be nice if they could help us out a bit, but the reality is I expect nothing from them,” Fletcher said.
With a report from CTV Ottawa’s Catherine Lathem
