One of Waterloo region’s driest years on record continues to put damper on local farmers

Waterloo region experienced one of its driest years on record in 2022 and for some farmers it led to frustration, which is still being felt through the winter.

At Stevanus Family Farm in Bloomingdale, the corn, soybeans, wheat and alfalfa took a hit.

“This past year, 2022, had a deficit of rain moving into July and so … we were already dry moving into that. So that really hurt the crop a lot,” said farmer Aaron Stevanus.

It is evidence of Waterloo region’s sixth driest year ever recorded, which the University of Waterloo Weather Station began keeping track of in 1914.

“Waterloo region and part of Guelph, this red dot of precipitation, we had the least amount of precipitation in all of Ontario,” said Stevanus.

The tap was essentially turned off, putting a damper on what farmers could sell even into the colder months.

“We deliver our vegetables to a place called Bailey’s, which is an online marketplace. We just delivered yesterday and they asked, ‘do you have any more squash?’ No, because of the drought. We only got the one bin instead of the usual eight,” Stevanus said.

There is concern from local farmers those ripple effects could continue into the coming spring and summer.

Over at Jeff Stager’s farm in North Dumfries, it’s a similar story. If there’s a lack of precipitation during the winter, it could put farmers like him behind where they need to be for the upcoming growing season.

“You might see some problems with local produce, like the guys that might be growing strawberries down in Norfolk. Pretty hard to do that when it’s dry, so the imports will make up the difference,” said Stager.

Although, local farmers aren’t forecasting another year of dryness in this part of Ontario.

“We tend to be boring, but boring is good when you want to grow crops,” Stager said.

Stevanus explained two years of dryness in a row could be devastating. But he does have hope.

“Farmers are like Leafs fans. There’s always next year,” he said.