With neighbouring municipalities amongst the growing number who have declared municipal states of agriculture disaster, affected farmers and producers in the Kneehill, Starland, and Wheatland County areas may be looking at what assistance is available to them.
The decision for each municipality to declare an agriculture disaster was prompted due to low soil moisture levels and high heat which has impacted growing conditions throughout much of the province. As of Friday, August 11 a total of 15 municipalities across the province have declared agriculture disaster, with the first declaration made by County of Stettler on June 15; Wheatland County declared its own agriculture disaster on July 5, while Kneehill and Starland County made the declaration on July 25 and July 26 respectively.
“The declaration is a means of informing other levels of government of the severity of the situation facing local agriculture,” Kneehill County Parks and Agricultural Services acting manager Fallon Sherlock tells the Mail.
Ms. Sherlock explains, despite the declaration, no additional assistance programs from either the provincial or federal governments have been made available, though some existing programs are available through Agriculture Financial Services Canada (AFSC).
According to the Alberta Crop Report, precipitation accumulation is near normal across much of the province, though there are areas, including Wheatland County, which have seen moderately low to low precipitation accumulation levels. This has resulted in poorer crop quality, with only about 35.3 per cent of all crops in the Central region rated as between Good to Excellent condition; this is down from the five and 10-year average of 63.4 per cent.
“Some producers will be experiencing more distressing conditions than others where precipitation may be too late to make a noticeable difference to growing conditions, but surely the whole community is feeling the dry conditions and understands that this is going to be challenging moving forward,” Wheatland County Agriculture and Environment manager George Bloom explains.
Some support is available to affected producers, including the Insurance Response Program through AFSC, or the provincial and federal cost sharing AgriRecovery Process program. Mr. Bloom notes if there is a shortage of feed, some crops may be put to alternate uses and acknowledges the challenges being faced by area farmers could have a wider spread impact on food supply and the economy.
The Mail also reached out to Starland County, but as of press time had not received response back.