Almost one million acres of one of the most promising crops in years in Alberta’s Peace River area was flattened in a freak September snowstorm.
It will be weeks or possibly not until spring before farmers can pick up the crops after a snowstorm blanketed most of the Peace Sept. 8. The fields were already saturated by up to 250 millimetres of rain since Aug. 20.
“We had some of the best crops in Western Canada. Everybody was counting on those crops to come,” said Woking farmer Leo Meyer.
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Unlike other parts of the Prairies, frost had not yet affected the area, and farmers were hopeful they could get a good crop.
“It’s a pretty devastating blow,” said Meyer who was counting on a good crop after three years of drought.
“This is not just about crops being a little bit down.”
He said it looks like a giant steamroller drove across the fields driving the grain into the ground.
Nick Sekulic of Rycroft, Alta., said none of his crops was spared from lodging.
“What looked like a potentially pretty good harvest has turned out to be a pretty sour harvest in the end, but we have to stay positive because there’s too much work to do to stay negative,” said Sekulic. He said it isn’t the first time farmers in the area have had to add pick-up reels, lifters and four-wheel drive kits to their combines to get the crop off.
“We’re dealing with lower grade crops and higher costs to harvest. That leaves less margin and that’s always frustrating.”
Bryan Woronuk of Rycroft said he’s already had a few kitchen table talks with his brother about the possibility of harvesting in the spring.
With water standing in low lying areas and the rest of the crop twisted into old-fashioned stooks, it’s going to be a struggle to harvest.
“It’s not a pleasant kind of picture,” said Woronuk, who added that the harvest is similar to 1996-97 when some farmers put rice kits on their equipment to get through water-logged fields.
Merle Jacobson with Alberta’s crop insurance agency said it is too early to assess the damage. There will be yield and quality loss, but there is still the possibility some harvest will be done before freeze-up.
Cash advances are available under crop insurance if the crop isn’t harvested, said Jacobson.
