‘Used up every drop of water’: Drought conditions wreak havoc on N.B. farmers’ crops

Dry, hot weather in New Brunswick is wreaking havoc on the province’s farms.

When farmer Christian Michaud took a look at the corn coming out of one of his crops in Bouctouche, N.B., this week, he knew instantly he wouldn’t be able to sell it at his farm stand.

The stalks are about a foot shorter than they should be, and the corn cobs are small and barren because they haven’t received enough water.

“That’s one of my best pieces of ground that’s just coming out of rotation: three years of hay,” he said.

“It had every chance on its side for the crop to make it, and it just used up every drop of water in the field, I think.”

Corn is planted in the late spring and grows in the warmer months.

According to Environment Canada’s June 2025 drought assessment, below-normal precipitation and warm temperatures resulted in an overall increase in drought extent and severity in June.

Precipitation was below normal for much of Atlantic Canada. The southern regions of New Brunswick and much of Nova Scotia received less than 85 per cent of normal precipitation.

By the end of the month, 62 per cent of the country was classified as ‘Abnormally Dry’ or ‘Moderate to Extreme Drought,’ including 66 per cent of the country’s agricultural landscape.

Michaud says for the first time, the ground was so dry that one of his trucks became stuck in the sand.

He estimates his fields have only yielded about 65 per cent it would normally have by now.

“It has affected every single crop, actually. Some of them we’ve been able to irrigate, so we’ve mitigated the effects, but our string bean crop (is the) same scenario. It’s not nearly the crop that we should be getting,” he said.

Trending Now

His situation is shared by other farmers in the region.

Agriculture plays a massive role in the province’s economy, and the drought will impact livestock as well as produce.

“(Cattle farmers) might have to replace some of their hay that they’re feeding now and buy it on the market. That’s definitely going to be a cost.” said John Bos with the Agricultural Alliance of New Brunswick.

Bos owns a dairy farm in the Salisbury region.

“On our farm right now we’ve already decided to buy more corn grain than what we normally do because we wouldn’t be able to produce it this year.” he said.

Elsewhere in the country, farmers are struggling with their crops too, which could affect food prices down the line.

“Unfortunately, much of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have had very dry conditions, and I would say more of their crops have been lost to wildfire damage than drought itself,” said Suzanne Fournier, the executive director of the New Brunswick chapter of the National Farmers Union.

For Michaud, he’s hoping there will be enough rain soon to spare his other crops.

However, there’s no recouping what’s already lost.

“Being diversified helps. So I think because strawberries were a pretty good season … I think we will be all right financially, but it definitely will have an impact.”

— With a file from Alessia Simona Maratta