Spring storm another hit for struggling farmers
An Easter weekend snowstorm moving slowly across the Prairies is causing headaches for Alberta farmers who still have the soggy remnants of last year’s crop lying in their fields.
An unprecedented one million acres of farmland in the province still needs to be harvested as a result of farmers being caught off guard by early snowfall last fall, Alberta farm groups say. Though the unharvested acres are largely concentrated in central and northern Alberta, there are farms scattered throughout the province that have yet to get all of last year’s crop off.
“It’s got to be one of the worst we’ve ever seen — that there’s that much still left out,” said Kevin Auch, chair of the Alberta Wheat Commission. “So this wet, snowy weather is definitely going to cause issues for guys who need to get that harvest off before they can even start seeding.”
Auch, whose own farm is in the Carmangay area, north of Lethbridge, was not affected by the early season snowfall last year and is in better shape than many of his northern counterparts. He said he is hoping to start planting Monday, though he acknowledged that would depend on weather conditions.
“We’re just getting started in this area,” Auch said. “Last year there was a fair bit of seeding started by this time, but it was a different year last year. It was a lot warmer spring, and drier.”
The weekend storm system tracking across the north and central Prairies — including the Rockies and Alberta Foothills — is expected to bring rain and heavy snow to the region over a three-day period. According to the Weather Network, most of the southern Prairies will see mainly rain from this system, though accumulating snow will continue through Saturday in Edmonton and Calgary and areas along and to the west of the QEII corridor. Some regions west of the QEII could see 15-30 cm through Saturday morning.
Drew Lerner, a meteorologist with World Weather Inc. — an international weather forecasting company serving the international commodity trade — said the long range forecast is calling for relatively normal spring conditions for Alberta in terms of temperature and precipitation. But he said the timing of the current storm situation is making for a “very bad situation” for farmers, particularly in central Alberta, who still have last year’s crop to take off.
“It’s going to make it really difficult,” said Lerner, adding he can’t recall there ever being so many unharvested acres holding up seeding in Alberta.
“To be honest, it’s going to take little bit of a miracle to get to the point where we’re dry enough for a long enough period of time to get everybody in the field and get the old crop out and the new crop in before summer.”
On his farm in the Blackie area, southeast of Calgary, Brian Sewell is hoping to start seeding by April 25. Though the weekend storm system was already bringing rain to his fields on Thursday, Sewell said he was optimistic.
“Depending on what this week does, I’d say we’re right on schedule for our area,” he said. “We have ideal moisture conditions for seeding right now.”
Sewell, who sits on the board of Alberta Barley, said he has spoken to many farmers in the central and northern half of the province who were hit by late season snow in the fall and are now fearful about a delayed start to seeding as they struggle to get their sodden crops harvested.
“If I do get a little anxious, I try to remember all those people not too far from me who are going to have a tougher go at spring this year,” Sewell said.