Although record rainfall has led to potato blight in Prince Edward Island, the same effect is not being felt in Dufferin County.

Downey Farms in Melancthon is reporting a higher yield of excellent quality this year than in 2007, and Trevor Downey said last week the harvest of Superior had begun, and he'd been getting calls from one or more of the farm's supermarket customers.

Dufferin has also received record rainfalls this year but the potato fields are largely on an underlay of permeable limestone. As well, Mr. Downey said his Dufferin operation takes all the necessary precautions.

In PEI, the average rainfall for August is 87.3 millimetres. This year it reached almost 239, or almost three times the average of the past 65 years.

Farm Credit Canada has quoted Rachael Cheverie, a potato management specialist with the Department of Agriculture, as saying the 50 cases of late blight identified in PEI were "kind of expected, given the amount of rainfall that we had."

Mr. Downey said, however, he'd been talking to growers in PEI, and blight is only one of the problems they face — perhaps it might even be the least.

He said there had been so much rainfall that the water had no place to go, as the island was hammered by the tail end of hurricanes this summer. "They had 15 inches of rain in a month."

The resulting water accumulation has resulted in the furrows between the rows of potatoes being filled with water. "They have a hard time getting in there to spray (for blight)."

Apart from blight, the excess water can lead to hollow hearts in the potatoes.

The potato harvest is expected to begin on the later crop in earnest by next week. Mr. Downey said the Dufferin fields have good drainage, and this year's crop will be an excellent one.