Frost hits Manitoba fruit and vegetable growers

Some Manitoba fruit and vegetable growers were forced into emergency harvests in the face of early frosts in the second week of September.

That's another blow to farms already struggling with a challenging growing season marked by drought and delayed crop development.

A Manitoba Agriculture frost report, which covered the overnight temperature dip Sept. 6-7, noted that Cartwright in central Manitoba hit -1.4 C with frost for five hours. 

Brandon, Erikson, Lake Audy in Riding Mountain National Park, Wawanesa and Reston also all hit at -1 C or under in the southwest, with frost lasting for up to six hours in some areas.

In the northwest, that frost duration jumped to up to seven hours (Ruthenia, at -1.3 C), with other notable lows at Alonsa and Pipe Lake (-1.6 C), Ste. Rose du Lac (-1 C), Laurier (-1.9 C) and Grandview (-1.1 C).