Weather dampens farmers’ profit prospects

Abnormally cool weather across the Prairies has put a damper on berry-farming and gardening businesses this year.
In Manitoba, berry producers are calling a two-week delay to the picking season the worst setback in recent memory.
“Everybody expects berries at the beginning of July,” said Murray Boonstra of Boonstra Farms in Stonewall. “People get that berry frenzy going.
“We’ve never had a season like this on record, where it’s been so cold for so long.”
Heather McGill, co-owner of McGill’s Country Lane south of Carman, said it’s the latest start in the 22 years she’s been in business.
“There’s lots of blossoms but we need some heat,” McGill said. “They need the heat to ripen and put on some size.”
The picking season could extend into August instead of wrapping up at the end of July, said Boonstra, who is hoping to open his three hectares to pickers in another week.
In Saskatchewan, garden centres and greenhouses also were suffering after a June in which temperatures averaged four degrees lower than normal.
“It was very, very poor,” said Heinz Wefel, owner of Wascana Greenhouses and Nurseries. “We had that recent frost that really turned off people. For gardening, you have to be turned on by good weather.”
Rod McDonald, owner of Lakeview Gardens, said this year has been his toughest in 28 years.
“It’s been the hardest year ever, not financially, but emotionally on garden centre operators,” said McDonald.
While diehard gardeners will buy plants no matter what the weather, McDonald said it is the occasional planters who represent the biggest loss.
“You are going to lose what we nickname the fair-weather gardeners. Everything must be aligned perfectly—the stars, their mood, their bank account.
“The weather has to strike them so they go out and plant, or else they’ll go to the beach or do something else.
“[Diehard gardeners] are your bread-and-butter customers. But unfortunately, it’s your fair-weather customers who give you your biggest increase in profit,” he remarked.