Quebec farmers feeling the heat, after record-setting temperatures ruin crops

Phil Quinn says walking through his strawberry fields this morning made him want to cry.

The co-owner of Quinn Farm on Île-Perrot, Quinn blames the record-breaking heat wave that swept across Quebec over the last week for the loss of more than 5,000 kilos of strawberries.

The high heat and humidity also kept the public, who generally come to the farm to pick their own berries, away.

"Nobody can blame folks for not coming out when it's this horribly hot," he told CBC News.

Thursday's temperature reached a high of 34 C, and with the humidex, some temperatures over the past week reached 45 degrees.

Quinn says saving his crops from the heat calls for "desperate measures," and he now plans on using a water cannon to irrigate his crops.

Fruit pickers staying home

At Ferme Wera in the Eastern Townships, farmer Richard Wera says the heat made his strawberries ripen too quickly.

While he expects he'll have to plow some of the crops back into the earth, he said the heat wave won't end up being too calamitous for his farm.

"It may not hurt too much," Wera said.

Like Quinn, Wera said the heat discouraged the public from coming out to pick strawberries. Usually, people come out in large numbers over Canada Day weekend.

But Wera is introspective, saying farming is often about mitigating disasters.

"From year to year, we deal with different types of catastrophes," but the farm always makes it through, he said.

It's not all bad news, though

Jean Fournel, a farmer at Anse au Sable on Île-Perrot, says he lost about a week's worth of his harvest because of the hot weather.

He quickly pointed out, though, that it wasn't all bad news.

Some crops, such as corn and melons, actually thrive in the heat, Fournel said.

Still, he says the heat wave shouldn't be ignored. "The climate is changing, but nobody seems to believe it."