Farmers on rain rollercoaster

Farmers on P.E.I., desperate for rain, have been on an emotional rollercoaster watching the weather forecast.

The forecast for Wednesday had as much as 20 mm of rain falling during the day, but by 11 a.m. the forecast had changed to just2 mm. Conditions changed quickly and a brief, but heavy dose of rain fell midday across the centre part of the province. The weather station on the roof of the CBC in Charlottetown measured 7 mm of rain. More rain is forecast to fall this evening.

While the actual rain was more than inforecast, it was still a disappointment to Gary Linkletter, a potato farmer and chair of the P.E.I. Potato Board, who said even 20 mm would not have been enough.

"We would take probably 50 millimetres over a 24 to 36 hour period to soak in to really get down to the bottom," said Linkletter.

"The eastern end of the province has really been dry up to this point... So some of the crops down at the eastern end have taken quite a bit of damage."

The Island is in the midst of the driest growing season since 2000, and potato farmers say they need a solid and steady rain to save this year's crop.

The total amount of rainfall for theJuly wasonly 38.8 millimetres, about half of what is usually seen at the Charlottetown Airportweather station for the month.

Hot anddry conditions have persistedthroughout the Maritimes this summer.

About a week and a half agoIsland farmers were given noticethat, if dry conditions persisted, farmers would have to stop irrigating their crops.

Cattle farmers running out of pasture

The dry weather has even forced some cattle producers to use hay that was supposed to be stored as winter feed.

Wilfred Smith, a cattle farmer from Hunter River, said some farmers have been selling their animals early because they have run out of pasture for grazing.

"Our pastures have dried right out. We're feeding feed that we would normally be feeding this winter," Smith said, "And our feed crops, of course, have been down a wee bit too as of late. The second crop of hay is pretty near nil."

Smith says there is still hope for the Island's corn crop, which he also relies on for feed.