Recent rainfall has not been enough to replenish soil moisture levels, and ongoing high temperatures are compounding the dry conditions, which prompted Kneehill County council to declare a municipal agricultural disaster during the regular Tuesday, July 25 council meeting.
Kneehill County is among a growing number of municipalities which have declared municipal states of agricultural disasters; County of Stettler was the first to declare agricultural disaster on June 14, and neighbouring Wheatland County declared its own agricultural disaster on July 5.
“Moisture conditions have been severely dry across the county, with all of the county experiencing less than one in 100 year dry conditions, according to the provincial soil moisture data,,” shared manager of Parks and Agriculture Services, Fallon Sherlock during the meeting.
Lack of moisture through snow pack levels and precipitation in the spring and early summer has posed problems for crop germination and growth across the county.
Ms. Sherlock explained this has resulted in crops maturing faster than expected, but is resulting in lower quality crops.
As of the July 11 crop report, about 35.9 per cent of all crops grown in the Central region, which includes Kneehill County, were rated in good to excellent condition. This is well below the five-year average of about 74.9 per cent of all crops rated good to excellent for the region.
Although there has been some near normal precipitation accumulation over the last month, soil moisture reserves in the Central region continue to remain in the very low to moderately low levels.
Kneehill County administration have been closely monitoring the situation in the county since its June 19 Agricultural Services Board meeting, and Ms. Sherlock noted they will continue monitoring conditions throughout the remainder of the season.

Four archers from Prairie Land Public School Divison (PLSD) are in South Africa to take on the world.
Holly and Natalie Karg of JC Charyk School in Hanna and Vince Laughlin of Youngstown and Sean Murphy of Altario are representing Team Canada at the 2023 AGA (Africa Genesis Archery Foundation) World Tournament in South Africa. The tournament itself is four days long and consists of archers from Canada, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Tania Karg is a coach at JC Charyk and is accompanying the team to the tournament.
“The students heading to South Africa were chosen by the NASP (National Archery in Schools Program) Canada National Team coaches based on their tournament scores, this year and previous years. They are expected to be shooting almost daily, 70-100 arrows. A typical competition is 60 arrows, and while they are in South Africa they will be shooting 2-3 tournaments a day,” Tania tells the Mail.
Archery has blossomed in PLSD. Schools within the division participate in the NASP which is offered to students in Grades 4-12. The program runs from January through April, and at JC Charyk there are 50 archers alone.
The students practice a couple of times during the week throughout the season and also participates in inter-school division tournaments, as well as throughout the province. There are also provincial and national competitions available if they choose.
Team Canada consists of two student teams of 16 archers each and an adult team. Coaches hail from throughout Alberta and archers predominantly come from Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Tania explains, “They will be shooting both in both a Bullseye competition (normal ringed target) and a 3D tournament where they get to shoot foam lifelike 3D targets of African animals such as a warthog, baboon and African porcupine.”
“We are fortunate to be able to extend our stay in South Africa to see many of the amazing sights.”