The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) Director for Lambton and Middlesex Counties says the weather has been "challenging" for farmers this spring and summer.
Crispin Colvin said it has really been a tough year so far.
"There are farmers who have just managed to get some crops in," said Colvin. "I believe there are a few in some of the Lambton areas and Southwest Middlesex, in particular where the heavier ground is, who may not have been able to get all of their ground planted just because it's been so wet and the ground is saturated."
Colvin said many farmers are losing money.
"It's like having a production line and having no product coming off the line. So, it's the equivalent of an industry having a shutdown. You can buy a level of crop insurance for unseeded acres, but that has to be done earlier and it really doesn't cover your costs. It's almost like a Band-Aid on a cut that should be stitched," he said.
Colvin said some farmers may still try to get short-day plants in the field.
"Soybeans for example. Some crops there's absolutely no chance of getting in. Obviously, nobody's going to be planting corn at this stage of the game, even soybeans. It's starting to get pretty late for things like that, but people will try, and rightly so. You have to earn a living and you have to make the ground pay for itself," Colvin said.
Colvin expects a true indication of what didn't get planted will be better known this fall.
"I think most people will have got something in the ground," he said. "Large farms that are doing several hundred or thousands of acres might not get all of their fields planted just because they've got so much ground to cover. What kind of yield they get will depend a lot on what the remaining summer is like and what the fall is like."
Trying to get dry hay this year has also been difficult, and Colvin said storing it in a building with even a bit of moisture can be risky.
"Another director, a friend of ours who does a lot of hay, and sells hay, has taken hay out of the barn because he's checked it and had a thermometer in it and it has proven to be pretty warm. So, he takes it out and lets it air. So, if it does catch fire it's not the whole barn going up, it's only a couple of bales," he said.
According to the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs most instances of spontaneous hay combustion occur within the first three months of storage.
