Whether you watch your rain gauge, watch your lawn turn brown, or if you are a farmer, you notice that to get the same amount of hay that 100 acres of first cut yielded, it took 260 acres of second cut hay.
The pasture is turning brown, the corn is shot out and twisted looking for rain, the soybeans are stunted and also half the foliage is turned down for lack of rain. By Aug. 6, farmers were looking at greatly reduced crop yields in Pontiac County for 2022.
Some of North America was flooded, while other areas were too dry for too long and even burning up. This translates into reduced grain yields, reduced beef cow herds, reduced dairy production and higher egg and chicken prices (because chickens, hogs and beef consume mostly grain) for fall of 2022.
Spring and fall are the two . . .
seasons when farmers use a lot of fuel. Any farmer will tell you that planting and harvesting are the time when they have to use that big tractor that holds 1,000 litres of fuel and that big combine that also has a 1,000 litre tank. No freebies there, so the increased costs get reflected in increased food prices a few months down the road.
When we received a good shower of rain Sunday after supper, everyone gained. A very important lesson that I learned several years ago was, if you quit worrying about things that you cannot control (like the weather), most of your worries will be gone and it’s a lot better for your mental health. However, we must be ever grateful for timely rains and sunny days.
When your grass is a beautiful dark green and needs to be cut more than once a week and the nights are too warm to sleep without open windows or air conditioning, your farming neighbour’s corn is growing both day and night and the animals on pasture don’t need supplemental feed.
We in this world, are going through some of the toughest times since WWII when a temporary income tax was introduced. Let’s keep in mind that clean air and water, safe nutritious food and a safe place to rest are number one. We, as a society, must plan far enough ahead to maintain these things.
Some chemicals that are measured in parts per billion are reducing or altering living animals on our planet. Many foods must be planned several years ahead to ensure food security at home. While we have allowed some of our clean water to be exported, meteorologists have predicted much of Pontiac County to be drought stricken within 20 years if we cannot reverse our heating up climate.
For many years our more advanced countries have been increasing our lifestyles by selling off our natural resources and even exploiting other countries to take their natural resources. In desperation, some peoples have even voted in dictatorship, fascism, or communism all of which are extremely expensive in lives lost to overturn. We have witnessed some well financed groups try to turn us against democracy and promote anarchy on our own continent.
On July 27, 2022 in Quebec City, Pope Francis said; “No one has the right to declare any language, culture or religion superior to another.” We must demand any wanna-be politician to explain any change promised, as to how it will improve the future of our planet for our future generations.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.
gladcrest@gmail.com
