P.E.I. soybean crops face $9M loss because of wet weather

More than half of P.E.I.'s soybean crop has not been harvested and some farmers and the P.E.I. Grain Elevators Corporation are getting worried.

It’s been too wet to harvest the beans. The harvesters could get stuck, and the beans must be dry; the drier the bean, the greater the earnings.

About 20,000 acres worth $9 million remain in the fields.

“It's devastating, devastating, and no good outlook in the weather as far as we can see,” said  Lloyd MacLeod, a soybean farmer.

He’s been farming soybeans for twenty years. On Monday, he unloaded some of them at the grain elevator in Kensington. He got his crop harvested a few weeks ago.

But some farmers have barely started, as most concentrated on getting their potatoes in first.

“You just hope the weather clears and you can get in and cut them. Other than that, there's not a thing you can do,” MacLeod said.

Harvesting window closing

Neil Campbell at the Grain Elevator checks soybeans for moisture content. He's worried about getting enough to fulfill contracts signed months ago.

“The old saying is you don’t get paid unless you can deliver and get them off the field,” he said.

“There’s a certain window and now they have to wait for the ground to freeze and get rid of this snow."

If the beans stay in the wet fields too long, they’ll become mouldy and worthless. Crop insurance would cover losses, but that would drive up premiums.

Farmers need several days in a row without precipitation to harvest soybeans. They're looking forward to this weekend, which at this point looks to be cool and sunny.