Farmer says growing season was a ‘battle’

From an unusually snowy winter to a lack of heat this summer, farmers in the province faced several challenges during the growing season.

Sanela Kukac
Kicker

Newfoundland and Labrador farmers faced a delayed harvest this summer after unusual weather conditions affected the growing season.

Last summer, the province went through a drought after hotter-than-normal temperatures and a large number of forest fires blazed across the province. Last winter was abnormally snowy, with St. John’s seeing more than 500 centimeters of snow – twice the yearly average.

Tom Williams, a farmer who runs Gracie’s Garden in the Goulds, says his parent’s are still in midst of harvesting. The delay affected more than just vegetables. “Crops that take more heat, like sweet corn, pumpkins, even sunflowers, were affected by it because the heat just wasn’t there,” Williams said.

The lack of heat, says Williams, affected more than just the crops themselves and created problems with the products that are used to help them grow.

“But with the herbicides and stuff (it) didn’t work the way they should have, and fertilizers didn’t activate the way they should have, and it was just a battle the whole summer,” Williams said. The delayed growing season pushed back when the farm could begin selling its vegetables, he said. “We were three weeks to a month late,” Williams said. “We’d normally be open the first week of August, but this year it was the second weekend after Labour Day.”

AccuWeather named St. John’s the fourth snowiest city on the planet with an average snowfall of 332 centimetres. In 2025, there were 249 wildfires burning across the province. The fires scorched a total of more than 18,000 hectares and destroyed 200 homes in Conception Bay North alone.

Local meteorologist Eddie Sheer says it’s not necessarily climate change.

“I’m not saying climate change isn’t an issue,” said Sheer. “It’s hard to identify what aspect of a given weather event is tied to climate change and what isn’t.”

Despite the delays, Williams remains positive and says farmers have to work with whatever Mother Nature brings.

With Thanksgiving approaching, Williams says the delayed harvest won’t affect Jiggs dinner. Even though it’s too early to predict what kind of winter the province will face this year, Sheer has hope for a gentler kinder winter.

“My initial research and readings suggest that we should have a winter that’s not as snowy as normal and a bit milder than normal.”