It's been a rough two years for local farmers. Last year, heavy rains wrecked havoc on soya bean crops and hay. This year local farmers have had the opposite problem. Record heat and a lack of moisture for the better part of six weeks had them praying for rain.

Sarsfield farmer Louis Raymond figures he was less than a week away from potential catastrophe when the first rain came down last Wednesday.

"Honestly, after last year, I was ready to call it quits,� says Raymond who has been farming all his life. "You go to bed at night and wake up in the morning praying for rain and it wasn't even close.�

The lack of rain had an especially harsh impact on corn which reaches a critical point in mid-July. Without rain the plants cannot properly pollinate which drastically impacts the yield.

Hay was also heavily impacted. Near perfect weather in the spring resulted in an excellent first cut. But the lack of rain in June and early July significantly limited the second cut. Area hay fields usually yield three cuts. With the recent rainfall, Navan farmer Glen Edwards is oprtimistic the third cut will be fine.

"It's been so dry, it opened up great bug cracks in the ground so when it rains the water can get down to the roots and not just drain off. That's a good thing,� says Edwards, who owns one of the largest dairy farms in the area, but also grows over 600 acres of corn and soya beans. "The rain has also been spread out, which is good as well.�

Most area farmers grow corn for silage which is used as feed for dairy cattle.

There are some area farmers who grow corn for human consumption. The recent rainfall will ensure the supply and price stability.

Glen Armstrong owns a century farm on Dunning Road near Bearbrook. He grows a cash crop of over 130 acres of soya beans on contract for a local elevator operator. If the drought had continued much longer it would have put his ability to fulfill his contractual obligation in jeopardy.

"Another week or two and it would have been a real problem,� says Armstrong. "The rain came at just the right time.�

And while the rain was timely for a lot of farmers, especially for those who are farming on clay soil, it came too late for farmers who crop in sandy soil. Clay soil holds moisture longer than sandy soil. Without any moisture, crops in sandy soil were especially vulnerable to the excessive heat which descended on the region during the first week of July.

"A lot of people have lost their crops. It was burned too badly. I'm one of the lucky ones,� says Armstrong. "The crops I have in sandy soil were able to hang on until it rained. "It's hard to tell how (the weather) will effect my soya beans. We won't know until we harvest it in September.�

All three farmers summed up the relationship between the weather and farming as a gamble.

"You never know what you're going to get,� says Armstrong. "You just have to hope things will work out.�

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)