Fall has officially arrived in Canada, but things may look a little different this year for those hoping to pick apples and decorate their homes with pumpkins and other seasonal staples.
Significantly less rainfall than normal across parts of Canada, including on the East Coast, has led to lower crop yields, which could mean fewer apples and pumpkins.
“It’s been tough with the drought because the trees were stressed, and they just dropped apples,” says Mat Kelly, who co-owns Cannamore Orchard near Ottawa.
“The harvest (this year) is much smaller, the apples are sweeter, and a lot of them aren’t pretty. There’s a lot of defects in the apples because they weren’t getting the water they needed when they were growing.”
According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, at the end of August, 71 per cent of the country was classified as “Abnormally Dry” or “Moderate to Extreme Drought,” including 70 per cent of the country’s agricultural landscape.
In addition to lower crop yields brought on by less rainfall is the impact of what officials say was one of the worst wildfire seasons on record this year, and has been fuelled by a combination of hot and dry conditions because of the minimal rainfall.
“Much of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have had, very, very dry conditions, and more of their crops have been lost due to wildfire damage than drought itself,” says Suzanne Fournier, director of the National Farmers Union in New Brunswick.
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These poor conditions mean a wide variety of farms have been struggling to grow crops this year.
“Our neighbouring farmers who have corn, for instance, you look out and we’re looking at their corn crops going, ‘Oh, that’s not good,’” says Vic Bakker, who co-owns Cannamore Orchard with Kelly.
“The top third of the plant, the leaves curl and twist upward. And they only do that when they’re under stress from being in a drought, and on the bottom third, the leaves are already gone. So it’s just like, ‘Oh, that’s not good for them either.’”
On Sept. 17, a report released by Environment and Climate Change Canada said many of the extreme heat waves this past summer were “likely because of human-induced climate change.”
The report also discussed how greenhouse gases in the atmosphere contribute to more frequent and extreme weather events, including floods, heat waves and droughts.
With less rain leading to lower crop yields, customers who arrive at orchards and farmers’ markets this fall hoping to pick apples and pumpkins may wind up being disappointed.
“For the most part, people are understanding, but it’s a disappointment, naturally. A lot of people who come to orchards want that outdoor experience, and want to get the pretty pictures and the photo ops with the family,” says Kelly.
“The experience they get, they don’t have that to the extent that they would like. We try to offer what we can, but we have limited the number of apples that people were allowed to pick. We just wrapped up this weekend. We will not be picking apples anymore because there isn’t anything left on the trees.“
Similar struggles have been reported in other parts of Canada, including the Maritimes.
“One of my best pieces of ground had every chance for the crop (corn) to make it, and it used up every single drop of water in the field,” says New Brunswick farmer Christian Michaud in an interview with Global News earlier this month.
“(Drought) has affected every single crop. Some of them we’ve been able to irrigate, so that was able to mitigate some of the effect, but our string bean crop, same scenario — it’s not nearly the crop we should be getting.”
Kelly at Cannamore Orchard says they are diversifying their offerings to make the experience about more than just picking apples and pumpkins, including offering retail sales of products like honey and fudge, as well as attractions like wagon rides and Halloween events.
“We have to find ways that we can survive without relying 100 per cent on the agriculture, but the problem is people come for the agriculture,” says Kelly.
“So, we have to figure out ways to accommodate them and give them what they are expecting — it is a difficult balancing act.”
— With a file from Global’s Suzanne Lapointe
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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