Harvest stories from Binbrook Fair

The summer of 2014 had only one day over thirty degrees and while some people might feel robbed of an afternoon on the patio or a long weekend at the cottage, for farmers it put a serious damper on their harvest. Several farmers shared their chilly summer stories at the Binbrook Fair.

There’s no beating around the barn — this summer was tough on farmers.

“Wet and cold. Just so wet and cold. We had a fair bit of moisture but we haven’t had the heat. Fairly wet and cold summer so not that great for growing.”

Farmers from around the Hamilton area gathered for the 160th Binbrook Fair. And with temperatures at a brisk twelve degrees, weather was already a popular talking point.

Johanna Burrows: “Most of the crops have been about two weeks behind from the normal just because we had so much rain when we were trying to seed.”

Drew Spoelstra: “Didn’t get planting until June so they were a month behind from the start.”

Joshua Burrows: “Going to make for a later fall and change of the seasons — going to hope for a late frost.

Drew Spoelstra: “Financially if crops don’t mature, we get downgraded for the quality of the crops so we don’t get paid as much for the produce.”

Weather experts are predicting a mixed bag of weather for the fall including a late surge of warmth for October. But these farmers are taking it one day at a time.

Johanna Burrows: “Fifty percent farming, fifty percent weather and chance.”

Joshua Burrows: “The rule of farming is you never have to go to the casino because it’s a gamble every year.”

So the weather wasn’t ideal for produce, but for livestock it was a very different story.

Drew Spoelstra: “This has actually been a great summer for dairy cattle. They like it not too hot — just perfect weather like today.”

Johanna Burrows: “During the summer, we have to run a lot of fans because pig barns tend to get really hot. So it’s nicer with the cooler weather.”

During the Binbrook Fall Fair there is a competition between all the farmers on who has the best produce and despite the crummy weather, a judge told me she was quite surprised on how good they were. So maybe it’s a situation of quality over quantity.