As an ongoing drought tightens its grip on much of Alberta, an increasing number of rural municipalities are declaring an agricultural state of disaster to try to help stricken farmers and ranchers face the crisis.
“I think a lot of municipalities are wanting to make sure they’re providing some assistance and support to our members as much as possible in the agricultural community,” said Paul McLauchlin, president of Rural Municipalities of Alberta.
Among those making the declaration is Lac Ste. Anne County northwest of Edmonton, which is currently one of the driest areas in Alberta only two years after declaring a disaster due to flooding. Other municipalities include Foothills County, Vulcan County, Cypress County, Municipal District of Wainwright, County of Two Hills, Brazeau County and Beaver County, said McLauchlin.
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He expected more declarations will be announced in the coming days.
“I think there was a tipping point, and obviously, just like with any of our agricultural producers, there’s optimism, hope, and then sadly, I think that the crops just were too far gone in most cases, and the continued heat and then add on top of that the (forest fire) smoke….”
The grim new reality is something McLauchlin found in many places he visited during a recent tour of Alberta to meet RMA members in person after months of dealing with them online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said counties ranging from 40 Mile in southeastern Alberta to Northern Sunrise about 1,100 kilometres away in the province’s northwest have been affected by drought and high temperatures.
“Most of the canola, most of the crops are extremely stressed all over the province.”
McLauchlin is worried about the potential effect of the crisis on rural communities whose businesses depend on farmers.
“And the other critical issue is that inputs were exceedingly high this year, prices were looking fantastic, so then you’ve got a situation, too, where a lot of folks are tied into (contracts) that they’re not going to be able to fulfill and there’s a lot of stress there, so yeah, I think it’s going to affect every element of rural Alberta life….”
As many as two-thirds of producers in the Alberta Federation of Agriculture have been affected by drought, said president Lynn Jacobson. Farmers who enjoyed high yields and good prices last year are now living in a different world.
“Last year was an exceptional year,” he said. “We thought we were on an upswing, but this is probably as bad as it’s been for quite a while, and we’ve had drought before … but not as bad as this one.”
There has been a significant deterioration of crops across Alberta since mid-June, said a provincial statement released on July 22.
“Current weather conditions are not improving, and industry expects to see further deterioration in crops.”
As a result, the Alberta government has asked Ottawa “to ensure all significantly affected municipalities are included as eligible in the designation for the federal Livestock Tax Deferral provision,” said a statement.
“This would allow farmers who sell part of their breeding herd due to drought in a prescribed drought region to defer a portion of sale proceeds to the following year.”
The provincial and federal governments are also adjusting the crop insurance program through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. It will allow farmers to provide more of their damaged crops for livestock feed, helping ease shortages for livestock producers.
“Alberta is doubling the low yield threshold to allow for additional cereal or pulse crops to be salvaged for livestock feed,” said the statement. “For example, the barley crop threshold will be increased from 150 to 300 kilograms per acre.”
The adjustment is meant to encourage farmers to “act swiftly to salvage crops for livestock feed rather than watch their fields deteriorate further, and risk harvesting nothing. As these crops would otherwise be covered by crop insurance, there will likely be minimal additional payments resulting from this decision.”
Along with Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, Alberta also recently received a verbal commitment from the federal government it will launch a joint AgriRecovery program to help producers prior to a federal election, said the statement. “Assessments are currently underway in these provinces.”
However, McLauchlin said the Alberta government also needs to ensure the province’s producers get help to deal with stress and mental health. Initiatives such as Saskatchewan’s Farm Stress Line at 800-667-4442 don’t exist in Alberta, he added.
“I think we need to move a little bit further forward for sure and get those resources out there and move fast so people can make some key decisions on what they’re going to do next.”
The Alberta government also needs to revive an initiative called Roping the Web, he said. It was a provincial website that allowed producers to do everything from exchange information to obtain feed, he said.
“Definitely, it was one of the things that people told me that in 2001, that’s where people went to find pasture in extreme drought-ridden areas.”
However, livestock producers now have fewer options to obtain feed due to the widespread nature of the current drought across much of Canada and the United States, said McLauchlin.
“It’s kind of scary just how bad it actually is.”
