Spring storm bad news for struggling Alberta farmers

CALGARY 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. The unharvested acres are largely concentrated in central and northern Alberta, but there are farms scattered throughout the rest of 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, chairperson of the Alberta Wheat Commission. Auch, whose 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 hopes to start planting Monday, although he acknowledged that would depend on the weather.

“We’re just getting started in this area,” Auch said.

The weekend storm system tracking across the north and central Prairies is expected to bring rain and heavy snow to the region over a three-day period. According to the Weather Network, most of the 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 Queen Elizabeth II Highway corridor. Some regions west of the QEII could see 15 to 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 longrange 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.

“It’s going to make it really difficult,” said Lerner, adding he can’t recall there being so many unharvested acres holding up seeding in Alberta.

On his farm in the Blackie area, southeast of Calgary, Brian Sewell is hoping to start seeding by April 25. Although the weekend storm system was already bringing rain to his fields on Thursday, Sewell said he is optimistic.

“Depending on what this week does, I’d say we’re right on schedule for our area,” he said.

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.

“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.