Alberta farmers struggling with continued drought conditions

Rain fell throughout Wednesday in and around Calgary, a welcome relief for farmers who have been struggling with a hot and dry spring, which has led to a lot of concern about the future of their crops.

“This is fantastic. We desperately needed rain. We were about a week to ten days away from having large-scale issues with the crop,” said Ian Chitwood, a farmer and vice-chair with the Alberta Canola Producers Commission.

“The crop is going to go into survival mode.”

This wheat field is soaking in moisture after it’s the first real downpour since it was planted.

Although the crop is young, Chitwood says it’s been suffering under the hot sun and isn’t even summer yet.

“We’ve got just a little bit of rain. We definitely need more at this point,” he told CityNews.

“We’re in the third year of a drought in this area, we’re looking at severe drought conditions in and around Calgary and just south.”

He says no rain is a problem spread all across the province.

Plants that should be further along are stunted by the lack of rain and high temperatures throughout the spring, leaving a bleak outlook for the rest of the year.

“It’s going to be hard on farmers. It’s going to be hard on consumers too, as carryout drops and supply tightens up, and with a lot of the instability in the world, we need a good crop,” Chitwood said.

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A good crop doesn’t just benefit the province.

Alberta exports millions of tonnes of grain internationally every year, nearly seven million tonnes of wheat alone, and we’re expecting to fill some of the gap left by shortages out of Ukraine as a result of the war.

“Some of those crops are sold internationally, so the amount of economic value that these crops provide — not just to the producers, but to Canada — can have a significant impact on our economy,” said Jeremy Boychyn, agronomy research extension manager with the Alberta Wheat Commission.

Wednesday’s rain will help, but farmers will be looking for mother nature to provide steady rain and decent temperatures throughout the summer.