The recent lack of rain has negatively impacted pea crops across the province, but that doesn't mean kids are getting a pass to skip eating their peas anytime soon because of a shortage.
An Agriculture Specialist with a North American leader in ready-to-cook vegetables named Nortera Dan Oliver told CK News Today the dry conditions over the past three weeks shouldn't be too much of a problem, adding we're "very far" from a "doomsday outcome" with regards to the pea crop, even though the recent dry weather did and will continue to have some negative impact.
Oliver said consumers shouldn't see the price of peas go up or shortages at the grocery store even if some crops are stressed.
Oliver also pointed out the importance for homegrown vegetable farmers to stay competitive in a global market because grocery stores will find different growers around the world to supply them if Chatham-Kent or Ontario can't.
Ontario and Chatham-Kent are big players in growing peas and Canada is tops in pea exports.
He said the pea crop is usually the first crop to get noticed because it's one of the first crops to get harvested. However, pea planting is staggered over a two month period and the peas should come out of the ground on schedule again this year despite the lack of rain.
"Yes, we do have some crops that are coming into a very sensitive time in their life when they're finishing their lifecycle and putting peas in the pod, but at the same time there are lot of fields out there that are just coming into the ground too," said Oliver. "There' a bunch of guarantees in life and death and taxes are two, but the third is the pea harvest starting on Father's Day Sunday. So, we're probably not going to be that far off again this year."
Oliver added peas isn't the only crop being stressed by dry conditions and admitted other farmers will need to reseed their fields because the lack of rain really did a number on them.
"There's a pile of farmers out there that are unfortunately going to have to do a lot of reseeding of some soy beans and some dry beans even in some places," Oliver added.
Oliver encourages the public to look at the back of a bag of frozen peas or a can of peas at the grocery store and they'll find, much to their surprise, most of the peas in the aisles were grown right in their backyard.