Touch-and-go for district crops

So far, 2001 has been receiving mixed reviews from crop farmers across the district.
Heavy rains last week compounded a tough year for seed farmers according to Purity Seeds owner Larry Lamb.
A number of seed growers who sell their crops to Lamb have been reporting poor yields this year after heavy rains doused the plants in early June and some fields were turned into swampland last week.
“Where it flattened them, [plants] are evidently not coming up,” noted Lamb. “I know one of my seed growers said this crop wasn’t worth taking.
“It isn’t good,” he added. “[Yield] will probably be reduced this year.”
“It’s not very good,” echoed Kim Jo Calder, manager of the Emo Research Station.
“Stuff like barley and chick peas that don’t like a lot of rain is not doing very well,” she said. “Our barley looks like it’s dead. We’ll harvest it but it’s dead.”
Calder noted that while the heavy rains were not ideal for many crops, a number of district farmers have plenty more to worry about.
“It’s not good for them but let’s face it, when you lose the roof of your barn, that’s pretty awful,” she remarked.
Pasture, on the other hand, seems to have weathered the storm and if farmers can get it off the field, it should be a good year for hay.
“Everything’s flat but it’s coming up since then,” said Calder. “It just makes if that much harder to harvest.”
“I think the pastures and hay are having a good year,” agreed Lamb.