Are unrelenting rainy summers the new normal for Ottawa farms?

Advertisement 1 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Breadcrumb Trail Links HomeNewsLocal News Are unrelenting rainy summers the new normal for Ottawa farms? Record rainfall this summer has rendered Saunders Farm's fields muddy, yellowing their pumpkin leaves and overwhelming underground drainage systems. Author of the article: By Abyssinia Abebe Published Aug 31, 2026 Last updated 3 hours ago 5 minute read Join the conversation Greg Longpré, operations manager at Saunders Farm, shows one of the areas where water has accumulated after repeated heavy rains across the Ottawa region since Canada Day. PHOTO BY ASHLEY FRASER /POSTMEDIA Article content Saunders Farm is celebrating its half-century anniversary this year. Article content But it’s a milestone that comes with an unexpected twist, according to Mark Saunders. Article content Article content In all his years growing up there, since his parents opened the southwest Ottawa farm in 1976, Saunders says he had never seen a summer like this one. Article content “Normally this time of year (in August), there’s a little bit of a drought going on, but we have had near rainforest conditions here on the farm,” he says. Article content Article content The ground shows it. Article content The Evening Citizen The Ottawa Citizen’s best journalism, delivered directly to your inbox by 7 p.m. on weekdays. Sign Up By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Article content When we visited the farm, my shoes sank into the soaked soil between the carefully planted rows of pumpkins, the mud squelching with every step. Article content Saunders says the “deluge” of rain on Canada Day was just one example of an “extremely wet summer.” Article content While Saunders Farm hosts events, festivals and various visits as one of the city’s popular agro-tourism destinations, it also grows pumpkins and apple orchards. Article content “This amount of rain is not normal for the pumpkins,” Saunders says. As a result, the farm has lost some of that crop this year. Article content Greg Longpré, the farm’s operations manager for the past decade, guided us through two of the main pumpkin fields. One of them had noticeable yellowing of leaves, something that Longpré said was a sign of stress for the plant. Article content “The yellow (leaves) is due to excessive water,” he said, pointing at…