CALGARY (CU)_Earlier this month, the Westernmost provinces of Canada experienced record-breaking temperatures, and nearly 500 people were reportedly killed by the catastrophic heat wave. According to experts, the disaster also killed more than one billion marine animals, including sea stars, clams, snails, mussels and other shellfish, as temperatures rose as high as mid-40s, in certain provinces.
These harsh conditions caused by the unusual variability in climate are now affecting the country’s agricultural sector, as draught continues to ravage crops and pastures, particularly across the Prairie Provinces. While agricultural producers western Ontario and British Columbia are battling active wildfires, farmers from Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan claim that little to no rainfall have left their crops in extremely poor condition.
“When you look over some of the pastures it’s a brown, almost gold colour. Because the grass that did grow here cooked after it grew,” Kelcy Elford, president of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association, told BNN Bloomberg. “In the areas where it’s quite bad it almost looks grey. There’s just no moisture there whatsoever.”
He noted that the province is experiencing the driest conditions he had seen in over two decades in business. While there are cracks in the ground, much of the crop he planted had not put forth shoots at all. Elford, who owns a ranch near Moose Jaw, southern Saskatchewan, said certain ranches may be to sell up to 40 per cent of their herds since it has become apparent that they would not be able to feed their cattle through the winter.
Meanwhile, the Saskatchewan government has launched plans to provide some drought relief to the devastated farmers, while grain farmers with crop insurance have been given the green light to write off damaged crops. However, national lobby groups, such as the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association are calling for further emergency relief funding through the federal-provincial disaster assistance programme, the AgriRecovery scheme.
