this year's drought takes a bite out of kingston-area farm crop yields
kingston-area farmers hit by this summer's drought expect lower crop yields.
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henry reinders, ontario and quebec regional representative for the canadian foodgrains bank speaks to supporters in kingston, ont. on thursday, nov. 27, 2025.
elliot ferguson
/
the whig-standard
kingston — the summer drought in eastern ontario was a reminder to many local farmers of the challenges farmers in developing countries face every year, said a representative of the canadian foodgrains bank.
“there’s a lot of crops that are really suffering and you’re seeing that because, of course, we get a lot of support from growing projects,” said henry reinders, the organization’s ontario and quebec regional representative, who was in kingston to meet with local supporters and the agricultural community.
“the crops in eastern ontario have been really, really hit hard by the drought,” he said. “i hear farmers talking about yields that are, you know, 30 per cent, 40 per cent of what they would normally get and that’s a pretty significant cutback, especially in corn.”
last year, revenue from the sale of crops grown in foodgrains bank growing projects across canada raised almost $8 million to help fund the charity’s work with farmers in developing countries.
the exact impact of the reduced crop yields has yet to be determined, but reinders said other donations to the organization often compensate for lower than expected funding from the growing projects.
the results of this past harvest season illustrate the challenges of farming, something that is not lost on reinders and the farmers involved in the growing projects.
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“i have a growing project leader in the niagara region, and i heard him speak the other day,” reinders said. he says, you know, despite the fact that our yields are down and we’re having struggles with our crops, we’re not going to go hungry.
“we still have food,” reinders said. “unlike people in the developing world where if their crops fail they’re without food.”
the canadian foodgrains bank has projects at about 15 farms in eastern ontario and most of them were hurting this year.
farmer andrew hough, who grew soybeans at a nine-acre growing project on his family’s farm in hay bay, just south of napanee said he saw first hand the impact of this year’s drought.
“in our 11 years with the growing project, this is the third lowest yield,” hough said.
“that’s a reality that farmers around the world face. we have a system of crop insurance in ontario, which is very useful, which we will rely on,” hough said. “many of the rural farmers that are around the world don’t have that support. crop insurance is there to help us avoid a catastrophic loss where many of the farmers around the world don’t have that.”
elferguson@postmedia.com
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