Drought-stricken Alberta farmers pray for rain

Double whammy of heat and high winds in the forecast could make fields even drier

Farmers in southeastern Alberta are desperate for rain as they seed their fields.

They were largely skipped by the snow and moisture Calgary received this past week and are already considered to be in drought conditions. This is coming off of last year's drought and heat dome that doomed many crops across the Prairies.

Farmers are eternal optimists, but already are a little wary of what could be in store for them.

“From where I am, we could see it snowing north of us ... but we were getting nothing but wind,” said Dave Bishop, Alberta Wheat Commission director and Barons-area farmer. “That gets a bit disconcerting when you see it raining or snowing around you but not on you, especially in a dry year like it is this year. Any little bit of moisture we could get would be helpful, especially to get things germinating. We aren't dire yet, but if we don't get rain in the next couple of weeks, we sure will be.”

Bishop began seeding on his crop on Monday and was still in the tractor on Friday while talking with Postmedia. The dry weather has allowed him to begin putting his crop in on time, but he is now banking on some help from Mother Nature.

Environment and Climate Change Canada did not have great news for them Friday morning.

Meteorologist Sara Hoffman said high winds and temperatures as high as 28 C are expected by Thursday next week.

“We do see a significant ridge of high pressure developing, we do expect well above normal temperatures for next week, but I don't think it's going to last more than a couple of days at this point,” she said.

Hoffman said it is important to watch the forecasts closely as the weather is volatile at this time of the year.

So far, the forecast is a double whammy that does not bode well for producers as the combination of heat and wind will dry out what moisture is left in the field.

“If it gets that hot in the next week, then we'll be hurting big time,” said Bishop.

Many producers in the region are still in recovery mode from last year's weather disaster coupled with a winter that did not produce much precipitation.

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, southern Alberta experienced one of the driest winters on record. Calgary had its 34th driest in 138 years; Medicine Hat had its 43rd driest in 133 years while Lethbridge had its 22nd driest in 119 years.

Bishop said some farmers are already planning for summer fallow instead of planting, while many are looking at changing what they seed. The big pivot is away from canola, which does not do well in dry conditions. He has a combination of dryland and irrigation over 970 hectares, and if he does not see any precipitation there's at least one quarter-section he will commit to summer fallow.

Agriculture and Agri-food Canada called the drought conditions in southern Alberta at the beginning of the growing season unique in the 15 years it has been monitoring these conditions.

It is problematic due to the 2021 drought that sapped water levels that did not recover during the fall or over the winter and early spring. One year of drought is difficult, but the issues compound in multiple years of drought.

“We're really vulnerable right now to a situation where we'll get a couple of rainfalls and the crop will progress, but if we go a week or two weeks without rain, there's no reserves in the soil to rely on,” said Trevor Hadwen, agri-climate specialist with the federal government.

“They're going to be a lot more vulnerable and we'll see a lot more impacts on crops if we don't get that rain.”

He added the region needs some of the rain that hit Manitoba hard this spring, but precipitation has bypassed southern Alberta and western Saskatchewan.