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After a cold spring that slowed growth, Prince Edward Island’s corn season is now catching up — just as cheaper product from Quebec is arriving in grocery stores.
Matthew Compton, who owns Compton’s Farm Market in Summerside, said May and June were colder than normal. While that delayed the start of the sweet corn harvest, he said he didn’t change how much he planted.
“Corn does not like cold soil,” he said. “Corn needs warm soil and warm temperatures to bring it along.”
To have some of his crop ready earlier, Compton planted part of it under clear, biodegradable plastic. The plastic creates a greenhouse effect, warming the soil and helping the corn germinate and grow faster.
“We’ve been selling since Monday,” he said in an interview with CBC News on Thursday.
“The quality is amazing, the flavour is amazing. It’s amazing what a little rain will do and a little bit of heat.”
Still, Compton said his main sweet corn crop in the fields is a bit behind where he’d like it to be.
And timing matters.
Demand for sweet corn is highest in midsummer, he said, when tourists are on the Island and families are buying corn for things like campfires and barbecues.
“We have a window here with our sweet corn,” Compton said. “The later it gets pushed into September, the demand just isn’t quite the same.”
On the other side of the Island, Mark Verleun and his wife run Keddy’s Corn in Montague. He also pointed to a cold, wet spring.
“May and June was really cold and wet and windy,” he said. “We planted corn that took 16 days to germinate, so it was a cold start, but it’s coming along now.”
He said the weather finally turned more favourable around the start of July.
Island Morning8:14Abundance of corn affecting Island farmers
An influx of corn might sound like good news for corn lovers, but a surplus elsewhere could take a bite out of profit for Island growers this year. Matthew Compton, of Compton’s Farm Market, and Mark Verleun, of Keddy’s Corn, tell us how the sweet corn season is starting out.
Verleun hopes to open for the season early next week. He has planted to have corn through to Oct. 1, but says how long the season actually lasts will depend on fall frost.
Last year, Keddy’s had corn through Thanksgiving weekend, but an early hard frost this fall could shut things down sooner, he said.
Quebec corn puts pressure on local prices
Both farmers are also watching what’s happening in Quebec.
After a slow start, farmers in that province are now harvesting more sweet corn than stores can handle, which has pushed prices down for consumers. Quebec corn can be shipped easily into the Maritimes.
Compton said that can undercut local prices.
“If there’s an abundance of corn in Quebec, that gets trickled down into the Maritimes,” he said.
“It’s great for consumers. It gives them a cheaper option for corn. [But] it brings us … to maybe a lower price level of what we can sell our corn for.”
At his own market, Compton has kept prices the same as last year: $1 per cob, or 14 for $9.
After a slow start to the season, Quebec farmers are harvesting more sweet corn than stores can handle, driving down prices for consumers. Despite slimmer margins on corn, farmers are enjoying a profitable summer thanks to bumper yields of other vegetables.
Verleun said Keddy’s has also held its prices steady, and in fact hasn’t raised them in four years.
“You don’t want to price yourselves out of the market,” he said.
Compton said people may be tempted to choose cheaper corn when they see it in stores, but he hopes that when people can afford it, they’ll pay a little more for local.
“If you’re able to support your local farmer and pay a little bit more for it … that money is reinvested right back into the local economy.”
