Drought-like conditions have led Foothills County to declare a municipal agricultural disaster.
An uneven winter snowpack, little moisture early in the growing season, a lack of precipitation in-season and high temperatures created “poor growing conditions” throughout the county located immediately south of Calgary.
The municipality said anywhere from half to 90 per cent of annual crops and perennial forage stands have been impacted. Eastern areas have received less than a third of their average annual rainfall, with some seeing less than five centimetres to date, leaving soil moisture reserves “severely depleted.”
“Here, we’re classified as D3 – which means the drought three – which means no discernible moisture for three feet down. So if you started digging, you’d have to go a metre before you’d find any kind of moisture,” farmer and rancher Wade Nelson said.
Annual crops south of Blackie and High River, Alta., have been the most severely affected, the county said. The hot, dry conditions caused poor germination and early maturity, and authorities said any additional moisture will have “little effect” on yields this year.
Livestock has also been impacted with nominal pasture growth, leaving producers with having to feed their animals on hay fields earmarked for winter feed.
“With the lack of suitable pasture and high winter feeding costs, many producers will face the hard decision to disperse or reduce herd sizes,” Foothills County said in a release.
“The cow herd is shrinking in Canada because the average owner of a cow is 55 or over. So they’re getting pretty tired of this. And why would you keep the cow herd around if you can’t feed them through the winter?” Nelson said.
Reid Snodgrass of Snodgrass Farms decided to move his herd across the province to feed them.
“This year, we had to truck all of our cattle up north for pasture because there was nothing down here,” Snodgrass told Global News. “Either they went to the auction market or they went north to find greener grass.”
He said come the fall and winter, he may have to sell half to three-quarters of his herd in order to prevent extreme financial losses.
The declaration of the municipal agricultural disaster does not automatically trigger funding for farmers. The county said it brings awareness of the challenging conditions farmers are facing to the attention of other orders of government and the public.
Two weeks ago, Stettler County, located east of Red Deer, also declared an agricultural disaster.
Nelson, who also sits on the Foothills County agriculture services board, said the province is aware of how bad things are in his southern Alberta municipality.
He said many farmers he knows aren’t looking for a handout, but rather for existing programs to be enacted.
“AFSC (the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation) is generally the main insurer for these crops,” Nelson said. “It’s pushing those (AFSC) adjusters along to write crops off sooner rather than later so that the farmer can sell those crops to the ranchers and at least make some feed out of them.
“This isn’t like in 2013 when it was literally underwater right here where we were standing. That was a disaster.
“This is the slow progressive wreck that we’re having, but we don’t really have any other tool other than to declare this state of disaster.”
Snodgrass said any crops on land without irrigation like his are at Mother Nature’s mercy, which is currently in the form of a drought.
“It’s been pretty well holding tight for five years now. And it’s just getting worse and worse each year.”
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