Independent farmers at Ottawa's markets say July's heat wave and drought has had an impact on the quantity and variety of locally grown fruits and vegetables.

For some vendors, the only locally grown crop that has survived the July heat wave is lettuce.

Tina Keeping, who sells produce grown at an 18-hectare farm in Navan, Ont., says the locally grown lettuce may also be a little bitter this year.

"Absolutely it doesn't taste the way it normally should — there's always a change in food in the flavour if it's not got the nutrients or the moisture that it needs," said Keeping.

Like many independent operators, Monique Lemieux's farm doesn't have an irrigation system.

She said they've had to improvise.

"So far we created a little water tank, so we try to survive the tomato plants and cucumbers and beans and things like that," said Lemieux.

Other farmers at the ByWard Market said some crops that like heat and sun are coming in early, while others that need more water are slow to grow.

"Our cabbage, broccoli, our corn, things like that, have been coming out really early because of the heat," said Martine Belanger-Trottier. "In that way it's good, but in the other way they're really thirsty."

The ByWard Market produce is fresh, and so far prices are in line with a normal year, in part because these crops got their start in June when there was some rain.

But from his stall in the market, Serge Cleroux's warns the price of foods not yet picked, and still growing in the field, could go up.

"The second field, third field in August there, it won't be too good," said Cleroux.