Hot weather helps corn crops after tough start to growing season

07-07-2025

Corn crops in Simcoe County are reaping the benefits of the warmer weather.
It's been a roller coaster growing season for local farmers, who say an unusually cold, wet spring followed by extreme heat made for a challenging start, especially for crops like strawberries.
"It's been a tricky one this year," said Calder Murphy of Murphy's Farm Market and Bakery in Alliston.
Despite the rocky start, farmers are seeing signs of optimism as key crops, like corn, start to ripen.
Murphy, who uses plastic sheeting to help insulate his soil, says that technique paid off during the unpredictable weather.
'It looks like this patch is going to be ready in probably a week to a week-and-a-half, and it's looking good,' Murphy added.
In Severn Township, Hewitt's Farm is experiencing a similar pattern. While its corn is a bit behind schedule, owner Trevor Hewitt said the recent stretch of hot weather could help speed things up.
'Between our earliest start date and our latest start date is probably three weeks, which is a big difference this year. I want to say we are probably a week behind at this point if we keep getting the 30 or 35 degree weather,then we could catch you,' Hewitt noted.
Both farmers said the ideal forecast going forward would include more warm days and just enough rainfall to keep the soil hydrated. That combination, they said, would be the best recipe for sweet, table-ready corn.
Up next on the farm calendar: pumpkins and squash. If the weather cooperates, those fall favourites should arrive right on time.

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Emergency plan 'worked great,' despite performer's encounter with lightning: Folk on the Rocks

CBC

27 minutes ago

Emergency plan 'worked great,' despite performer's encounter with lightning: Folk on the Rocks

Folk on the Rocks says its emergency response plan "worked great" after a thunderstorm forced the Yellowknife music festival to shut down early last Friday – and it has followed up with a local performer who had a scary experience with lightning. "Lightning hit the tent and I got shocked pretty good," Benji Staker, who performs as Hughes, told CBC News on Saturday. The annual three-day outdoor festival kicked off Friday with its Warm the Rocks event in the beer gardens at the Folk on the Rocks site. However, after the thunderstorm started, organizers made the decision to evacuate the site at around 8:30 p.m. Straker said he and his wife and two others had sought refuge from the storm under a tent with sound equipment when it happened. He'd been leaning against a metal equipment box at the time, and said it felt like someone punched him in the head and kicked him in the butt. "I felt fine right away," he said. "I think everybody else was kind of more concerned." Straker said many people pulled him aside at the festival to ask him what happened and if he was OK. "I'm having fun with it," he said. "They're wondering why I'm not stuttering and why I don't have, like, a white stripe on my head or, like, spider veins." "It's obviously nobody's fault. Maybe ours, for getting under a metal frame tent. But whatever, it is what it is." Teresa Horosko, the festival's executive director, said in an interview Thursday that the festival has spoken with Straker about what happened. "The static charge in the air when lightning is present is intense and it is possible to feel some shocks or some effects from that static charge," she said. "We've discussed that with him and also have opened up that conversation for anybody else who has been on site who may have felt some static charge." Asked whether the festival's emergency response plan worked, given what happened, Horosko said it's something she's been asking herself too. "Did we do enough, and quickly enough? And I think, ultimately, yes." Horosko said the festival had been monitoring the storm for a while and an evacuation didn't seem necessary at first. But then the wind changed, a low pressure system moved in, and things started to move quickly. "I think back on that moment a lot. If I had done things a little bit different … would we not have had those instances? And I can't guarantee that those wouldn't have happened. Like static charge in the air is a big thing when there is an electrical storm. And I think ultimately we made the right choice when we made that choice." Horosko said staff and volunteers did an "incredible job" clearing the site, and she's thankful to the audience for paying attention and being co-operative. Though she's satisfied with how the emergency response plan worked, she does hope to make some updates to it. "It was our first time doing an evacuation because of a thunderstorm. So going to edit that a little bit and also have a more detailed re-opening plan." The festival has described shutting down early on Friday as a "devastating financial loss." Horosko said the 19+ event brings in about a third of the festival's sales – through drinks at the beer garden and merchandise. Though attendance on Saturday was "big," the cool Sunday forecast meant fewer attendees.