It was the emotional toll that hit Emily teBogt hardest during an April 4 windstorm at her Grand Pré farm.
The young farmer recalls watching as her plastic and metal greenhouse was ripped apart, the doors thrown off hinges as wind beat her baby shoots of spinach, beet greens, radish, carrots growing inside the warm tunnel.
The teBogt’s Produce and Meat farmer was among the many producers across Nova Scotia to experience wind damage to greenhouses after the vicious windstorm ripped through the province.
Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture spokesperson Catherine Doyle says the general consensus within the industry was that the damage was limited to temporary structures, and no damage to permanent structures was reported.
Former federation chair Richard Melvin also says it’s a night he won’t soon forget. He says many farmers had to watch and wait as the wind thrashed through their crops as it was too dangerous to repair damage during the storm.
“Those sheets of plastic are almost unstoppable when they split. They’re just like a massive sail on a boat,” he says.
He says any farmer who sustained damage would feel stress because the baby shoots of plants inside such greenhouses can represent their whole season of crops. He says it was undoubtedly a nerve-wracking 24 hours for all.