Farmers perturbed by consequences of drought

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

A domino effect, sparked by this year’s drought, became the driving force behind discussions at an agricultural round-table meeting with notable local producers and Canada’s agriculture minister on July 4.
Approximately 20 individuals were present at the information-gathering meeting with Minister Gerry Ritz, which shed light on numerous staggering concerns in the agriculture industry, affected by the unpredictable dry spell.
“The drought is on everybody’s mind because it’s been a few years since we’ve had these kind of dry conditions,” said Martin Shields, the Conservative Party candidate for the federal Bow River riding who hosted the discussions.
“The hay prices are going up, cattle guys are worried about being able to feed next winter and so cattle producers are looking at possibly selling cattle early this fall. It’s very widespread and huge. There are little pockets of places where we had thundershowers but it’s very isolated so the drought is extremely widespread.”
According to the Alberta Agriculture and Forestry crop condition reports, crop condition and soil moisture ratings continue to deteriorate in all regions across the province, and have dipped to the lowest ratings collected since 2009. The reports also state that pasture growth struggles to keep up with grazing and hay yields. With Wheatland County in dire need of precipitation, some operations are already on the radar for crop insurance, and despite recent showers in the area, not all areas were able to reap the benefits.
“It’s been a very nerve-wracking couple of weeks and last week was a really tough week,” said Matt Gosling, agrologist and partner with Ag Premium.
“Once you get about 15 or 20 miles east of Strathmore it goes from bad to very bad. It’s definitely going to affect our grain yield at the end of the year and that has tremendous economic impact from custom application to grain trucking, the elevators will be handling less grain, so it’s huge.”
In comparison to last year, soil moisture looked promising in early 2015, but suffered during seeding period with very little rainfall. Although precipitation may still impact crops during the current reproductive stage, Gosling expects it’s unlikely for it to influence any big yield impacts. However, he added between 10 to 20 per cent of the county that are rated average to above average, might find the rain will have an impact on their bottom line.
“Those crops really got hit hard, and this rain won’t do much if anything for those crops, but we’ll take any moisture we get,” Gosling said.
“This rain that we just received over the weekend, in most areas will really help give a little bit of weight to the crop. I think it’s too late to think that there’ll be any sort of real big yield impact as far as making more bushels.”
During the round-table discussion, local farmers and producers had a chance to voice their concerns that also triggered debates regarding trade agreements, transportation, the origin of our food, education and recruitment, and cattle prices.
Among those present, the Strathmore & District Agricultural Society, who is gearing up to host their annual much-anticipated Strathmore Stampede event, is facing some challenges of their own as farmers deal with the implications.
“We’re a little concerned because one of our signature events is coming up and we do have some international people that come in, and we’re a little nervous I guess as to what our numbers are going to be this year and we’re bracing for some changes,” said Brad Walls, president of the Strathmore & District Agricultural Society.
“Currently we’re sitting about par, and that’s good for us. We were expecting that with the oil and gas doing what it did, and now recently with the new government everyone is a little bit unsure what’s going to be transpiring there. We’re optimistic that things are going to just march along. We have lost some sponsors, I’m not going to say we haven’t but, we also gained new ones as well.”
Walls assured that the event will not be cancelled, but added those farmers who may now be required to harvest during that time usually make up a large portion as sponsors and spectators.
For now, the industry is dependent on Mother Nature. And while the arid conditions may be familiar to some, others wonder if the younger generation of farmers will be able to cope.
“You try to understand some of the situations but when you actually start to hear how some of the farmers are really doing you really start to grow concerned,” Walls added. “You really do, and one of the things, a lot of the younger farmers maybe haven’t been through this yet. Are they going to survive it?”