Severe summer storms impacting some crops in the Ottawa area, but corn is thriving

The summer wave of heavy rain, hail, tornadoes and smoky air has left its mark on farm fields in the Ottawa area, causing some to turn into swamps.

But corn farmer Don Trott of Maple Hill Urban Farm isn’t complaining.

"It's been great. I mean, it's probably going to be a bumper crop," Trott said.

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This harvest stands out as one of Trott's best in years.

"We started out kind of dry in May until the middle of June, but it gave us a good chance to get everything planted and everything got germinated," Trott says. "And while it was dry, the roots were going down looking for water. So it established a good root system."

However, the benefits reaped by corn haven't been shared by other crops. Tammy Bannon, President of Veggie Trail Farm, says the impact of excessive water caused her cabbage to explode.

"Too much water, they expand too fast and they burst right out of their own skin," Bannon says. "We haven’t had rain, we’ve had storms."

At Veggie Trail Farm, the concern of losing a significant portion of their crop is worrisome. The amount of moisture has saturated the ground.

"We've had so much moisture, liquid coming down that the ground itself is saturated. It cannot hold anymore. That's why we're flooding," Bannon said.

The storms are causing more than just over saturation, with plants dying due to the soil splashing up onto leaves during heavy rain.

Officials at Veggie Trail Farm say the excessive rain this summer has caused some plants to explode. Spores are also killing plants at the farm. (Dave Charbonneau/CTV News Ottawa)

"The spores are in that dirt," Bannon says. "And then it gets into the plant and then it starts destroying it."

Back at Maple Hill Urban Farm, farmer Rasmi Alnofan is watching the majority of his pepper plants die.

"I planted 6,000, they’re sick," he said.

The pepper plants at Maple Hill Urban Farm are dying due to over saturation this summer. (Dave Charbonneau/CTV News Ottawa)

Alnofan's eggplants have also suffered, with massive amounts of moisture in the soil killing thousands of plants.

"In the middle, the eggplant, you see everything is dead because of a lot of rain," Alnofan said.

The extreme weather has taken a toll on many farm fields, but for Trott, his corn still stands tall. 

"Generally, the old saw still applies that rain makes grain," Trott says. “So we're going to have a bumper crop of corn."