Drought plagues harvests across Canada
Pastor Dale Morgan
Drought plagues harvests across Canada*
Updated Sun. Jul. 30 2006 2:15 PM ET
Canadian Press
To farmers across the Prairies, it looked like it was going to be an
ideal growing season - warm temperatures combined with just the right
amount of moisture to create what could have been a bumper crop.
At least until the beginning of July.
Since then, the three Prairie provinces have been plagued with varying
degrees of heat and drought, leading to early harvests, small yields, a
lack of topsoil and poor crop conditions.
And while a good drenching will help the problem in some areas, it's too
late to make a difference in others, said Bruce Burnett, director of
weather and crop surveillance for the Canadian Wheat Board.
"Certainly there are some areas where the damage is permanent," said
Burnett. "In some of the southern growing areas across the Prairies
we've seen some deterioration in the crops to the point where they're
beginning to mature now."
The Alberta government reported that crop development was about two
weeks ahead of normal as of July 20, and that will have a negative
effect on the final product, said Burnett.
"With this type of heat that we've had, crop development accelerates and
that causes the yields to decline, so the benefit of earlier maturing
crops are counterbalanced by this drop in yield potential."
"And in some areas, certainly in parts of Manitoba and southern
Saskatchewan, yield declines have been substantial."
Canola and barley have been hardest hit by the heat and lack of
moisture, while hay and cereal crops are doing better, said Lionel
Kaskiw, farm production adviser for Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural
Initiatives.
"The canola crops are the ones that probably are going to suffer the
most, mainly because the heat caused the flowers to abort," he explained.
The later the crops were seeded, the more moisture they need, he added.
Livestock pasture is also being negatively affected by the weather.
According to the latest Saskatchewan crop report, only one-third of
pastures were rated as good to excellent compared with 92 per cent in June.
"Normally July is our hot and dry month, but the extreme heat that we've
been getting for an extended period of time is not average, that's for
sure," said Kaskiw. "We need a good shot of rain."
But Burnett said the hot weather isn't all bad news for farmers.
"Disease levels are lower than in past years because of the warm, dry
conditions, so that's one of the positives of this weather.
"Hopefully that lack of disease will translate into better quality
harvests."
The heat has resulted in scattered thunderstorms across the Prairies,
meaning conditions can vary drastically from farm to farm.
Jim Hipkin, a farmer in the area of Lumsden, in south-central
Saskatchewan, called conditions on his farm "pretty ideal."
"We had an inch and a half of rain approximately two weeks ago which, if
it hadn't come, we'd be in a mess," said Hipkin, who is also reeve of
the Rural Municipality of Lumsden.
"As it is, right in this area, we've had one of the better summers we've
had for a couple of years."
But across most of the rest of the Prairies, the main sentiment among
farmers is disappointment.
"We had such a great start to the year that farmers had their hopes up
for something better," said Somerlee Bennett, conservation technologist
for the Municipal District of Wainwright, about 200 kilometres southeast
of Edmonton.
"Rain is really what's needed at this point."
Jack Skocdopole, a farmer in Stettler County, about 150 kilometres
northeast of Calgary, agreed.
"We had such a good start, but it's just going to go backwards if it
don't rain."