'That's a generational loss': Maritime farmers strongly impacted by Fiona's force

While harvest season usually takes place this time of year in Nova Scotia, many farmers are instead dealing with the devastation Fiona left on their crops.

At David and Denise Bekkers’ dairy farm north of Antigonish, the top of a silo has blown off.

"It’s the roof and about ten feet of stone that came down," said Denise. "A lot of that stone landed on a farm truck that was parked underneath it."

But the silo is just the start.

The end of the barn blew in, along with the end of the shed being blown on top of a tractor.

Additionally, between 40 and 50 per cent of their 220 acre corn fields meant to feed the cows has been crushed.

What can be salvaged will be, but they say it's a tough go.

"It’s complete devastation really," said David.

The Bekkers don’t have crop insurance and said even if they did, they’re not sure wind damage is covered.

Their farm is just one of many in Nova Scotia farms facing major losses.

In a Facebook post, Haveracres Maple Farm said they suffered devastating damage to its sugarwoods, estimating destroyed 6,000 trees - cutting production by at least 75 per cent.

"The effects of Fiona will take 50 years for the woods to recover from," the post read.

"That’s a generational loss," said Jack Thomson, dairy farmer. "It won’t be replaced in his lifetime."

Thomson’s farm fared better than others. Prior to the storm, he already harvested his feed crop, but two of his barn doors were hit, and now he expects a long wait for supplies.

"The trouble we’re going to run into is supply of building materials to get that stuff repaired before winter, and that’s just around the corner," he said.

Thomson points out how fuel, fertilizer, labour and seed costs were all up this year.

Losing these crops means losing a significant investment and potentially not having enough feed for the animals this winter.

Usually if there’s a shortage of feed, farmers could pick it up from their neighbours or turn to PEI. Now, neither will be options.

"It’s just a disaster zone over there for farmers," he said. "A lot of us are going to be in a really tough spot. Tough spot as far as our structures go, our finances and really our mental health because it’s extremely stressful."