Unseasonably dry weather is making Quebec farmers harvest their crops early than usual. According to Philippe Beauregard, a farmer in Rougemont, the local strawberries are unusually smaller.
However, the small size of the strawberries does not mean they are worse. Instead, their small size is compensated by their extra sweetness.
The dry weather hasn’t been good for berries. Beauregard says that farmers had to supplement natural rain by watering the plants. In the past few months, Quebec experienced a shortage of rainfall. The situation has necessitated farmers to water crops manually using trucks.
Beauregard adds that watering itself is a problem because of the limited supply of water. Farmers have to focus on the main crop and let the other die.
Sylvain Charlebois, an agricultural expert and a professor at Dalhousie University, acknowledges the battle farmers are fighting all across the country.
“Water is an issue across the continent, not just in Quebec but across the prairies, and there are issues in British Columbia as well.”