Cool, wet weather has slowed crop growth in East Central and in Eastern Ontario.

But don’t worry about the harvest yet. The summer forecast is for a warmer and drier summer than normal.

"We’re definitely lacking heat units," says crop farmer Larry Reaburn in Renfrew County. But he is amazed at what a burst of heat can do. A short spell of heat in early June and "all of a sudden it took off. Hay doubled in size in three or four days," he said. "You wouldn’t think it was possible."

Trenton crop advisor Larry Hutchinson agrees. "If we get 28 to 30 degrees Celcius for two days the crop will take off like a rabbit."

"It’s really wet here," said Lindsay-based crop specialist Joel Bagg, for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Rural Affairs on June 20. "What is on people’s minds is getting the first cut hay off. We’re going to have a big crop but there will be damage for sure — rain damage or too mature. It’s been almost impossible to make dry hay."

"Did we ever get rain," said Lindsay agronomist Neil Moore. "We’ve got fields with big ponds of water in them. (As of June 20) Hardly anyone has started haying."

But it’s the lack of heat units that was of greatest concern in mid-June. Kemptville-based OMAFRA crop specialist Scott Banks said frost at night forced some replanting of soybean fields this year but despite the wet weather it’s too early to talk about crop loss.

Cheer up, says Environment Canada’s senior climatologist David Phillips. "Americans have been hit hard with tornadoes, hail, heavy rains. Canadian farmers stand to benefit because it looks like we are going to have a warmer and drier than normal summer. We are not in the dog days of summer yet."