Rain 'always a good thing' — but maybe not this much, P.E.I. farmers say

The heavy rainfall on P.E.I. over the past few days may have been too much of a good thing for some kinds of farmers.

Strawberries, for example, are one crop that's ripening later this year because of the rain. 

John Hardy, who runs Fox Creek Farm in Cornwall, says he gets calls every day from people wanting to pick strawberries in his U-pick field.

But the fields are too wet and muddy, and the berries need some more sun to ripen, he said. He's still expecting a good crop in a week or so, though.

"Rain's always a good thing, right? You never want to be too dry. But overall we're probably kind of a week behind what we would be," he told CBC News on Tuesday. "The cooler temperatures, rain, less sun has not been able to get them to ripen up as fast as everybody would like."

For P.E.I.'s potato industry, April and May were too dry. Now it's too wet for heavy farm machinery to easily do its job.

The situation is worse in fields with low spots where water can gather, said Ryan Barrett, an agrologist who serves as the P.E.I. Potato Board's research and agronomy specialist.

"We're a little worried about fungal diseases like late blight, and there's other diseases and other pests. Right now the major issue is getting onto the fields, more than anything."

Parts of P.E.I. saw almost 90 millimetres of rain from Sunday night to Tuesday morning. 

CBC meteorologist Jay Scotland says scattered showers are possible for Wednesday, followed by a mix of sun and cloud though to Sunday.

There is still plenty of time in the farming season, said Jillian Ferguson of the P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture. 

"It's very early on in the season to be talking about food crops, so there's lots of time throughout the summer to have sun and heat come back and have that better balance of water, heat and sunshine for the crops."