THUNDER BAY — Jason Reid is keeping a close eye on the weather these days, something that's not unusual for a farmer.
But this year's dry start to summer has him and many of his farming friends paying particular attention to the forecast in the hope it includes at least a few showers.
At Reidridge Farm on Oliver Road just outside the city, Reid and his wife run a cow-calf beef operation, but they also have sheep, meat chickens, and laying hens, and grow some root vegetables.
He called the recent lack of rain "extremely concerning."
"We're dependent on the weather for everything, from our crops to getting enough water for the livestock on the pastures, to running the barns," Reid said. "Water is extremely important."
Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips agreed that local farmers have good reason to feel apprehensive.
"It's been very dry," he said. "Look at the last 25 days. The total amount of rain in Thunder Bay is less than 10 per cent of what you would normally get. At the same time, it's been warmer than normal, so there's more evaporation. The fact that the supply is not there, it clearly is a nervous situation for everybody involved with water resources."
Phillips added that in the next seven days there's currently a small chance of showers on just one day, and the long-term outlook for precipitation isn't encouraging either.
"We're still calling for summer in the Thunder Bay area to be warmer than normal, and to be drier. If you look at the national map, where in Canada is the chance that it will be drier than normal, it's there."
Reid said that for him and many others in the farming community, the situation isn't critical at this point, "but we're very close to it."
Crops in the ground on his farm and neighbouring farms "have just barely or have not even germinated yet because it's been so dry. We like to see a good couple of millimetres — two, three or four millimetres — of showers on those fields right after they're planted. It makes the fertilizer work better, gets the crop germinated, gets the roots going."
"It's important to get that early-on rain. We still have green grass. Things seem to be chugging along not too badly but it's concerning. If we had a week of rainy weather, there would be an awful lot of happy people around here."
In the last few days half a dozen farmers have texted Reid about the lack of precipitation. which has become "the topic of discussion just about every time you run into the neighbours now. We need rain very quickly."
He estimates that within seven to 10 days, unless there's significant rain there will be long-term effects on this year's growing season.
"Farmers are eternally optimistic people," Reid said. "I mean, we went through a drought here a couple of years ago and we're still here and producing food, and doing what we can to keep going. Optimism is what drives us. If we can get a good rain soon, then things will look good for the summer.
