8
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • NOVEMBER 2019
Heavy rains don’t wash out
potato hopes Yields, quality more than cover losses by PETER MITHAM DELTA – A month after
growers gathered for the annual BC potato variety trial field day on Westham Island, a wave of wet weather put everything in doubt. “This is one of the best
Rob Mumford admires a 219-pound bright green bushel gourd grown by Jeff Pelletier during the Giant Pumpkins BC weigh-off at Krause Berry Farms in Langley, October 5. RONDA PAYNE PHOTO
crops I’ve seen,” remarked United Potato Growers of Canada general manager Kevin MacIsaac during the field day. “BC had moisture at the right time.” And then it didn’t. A deluge in mid-
September left many growers unable to get into their field, where up to half the crop still lay. Fraser Valley growers, who anticipated completing the potato harvest by October 1, filed eight notices of loss with provincial crop insurance by the end of the month. Corn was also affected. According to the monthly
weather report from climate scientist Greg Jones of Linfield College in Oregon, September was a “wacky month” that blew forecasts out the window. Weather that was more typical of October and November swept across the region and “ushered in unexpectedly cold conditions along with record precipitation in some regions.” Precipitation at Vancouver
LOOK TO THE LEMKEN GROUP FOR WEED MANAGEMENT
LEMKEN: Strategic Tillage solutions for pre-till and post-harvest weed management
LEMKEN tillage machines offer unique pre-seeding and post-harvest Strategic Tillage solutions for any crop or field condition.
• High speed discs from 8’ – 52’ wide with 20”, 25” or 29” discs
• Cultivators with 8 quick change shares for depths from 2” – 14”
• Power Harrows • Ploughs
Steketee: Mechanical weeding and real-time Image-driven IC-Weeder Technology
Steketee hoeing machines offer custom configurations and image recognition technology for in-crop weed control in any row crop and soil conditions.
• Hoeing elements for flexible row widths • Custom configurations for your individual requirements
• IC-Light camera system for better control • Special IC-Weeder hoe with individual plant recognition
Strategic Tillage is our vision!
International Airport totalled 106.8 mm for the month, most of it falling between September 12 and 22. The long-term normal for the month is 50.9 mm. Weather patterns reverted to normal in October, however, with precipitation largely absent until the middle of the month. This allowed growers to catch up and harvest all but about 125 acres. “When you get 97% of your
crop out of the ground when you’re dealing with double the normal rainfall, you’re feeling pretty good about it,” says Murray Driediger, CEO of BC Fresh, which markets a large portion of the Lower Mainland crop.
The potatoes that came in
also lived up to growers’ expectations at the field day. “The crop we did get in,
harvested, is excellent as far as yields, and above-average quality,” says Driediger. “What we left in the ground we made up for in good yields this year, so we’re in pretty good shape.”
BC is home to about 6,600
(604) 864-2273
caliberequipment.ca
(250) 938-0076
agrigem.com
acres of potatoes. Growers harvested 2.1 million hundredweight (105,000 tons) last year, with an average yield of 318.2 hundredweight per acre. The break in the weather also stands to reduce insurance payouts. Production insurance had received just two additional notices of loss by the middle of October, for a total of 10. The final claims have yet to be determined.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
