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Vol. 14, No. 34, Wednesday, July 10, 2019 www.LamontLeader.com
Heat, wind, needed to salvage crops BY JOHN MATHER Lamont County farmers are still on edge as to whether crops will be salvageable for this season. “When we had that big dump of rain a couple of weeks ago, it was still a localized narrow band.” said Harry Brook, an agricultural specialist with Alberta Agriculture in Stettler. He added, in the band which spread a swath of rain across the province from Calgary to St. Paul some people got several inches of rain while others got very little. “It’s all over the map right now,” he explained. “The dry areas of the province that were dry two weeks ago, well they’re still dry. They might be a little better off having received about half an inch or so, but they’re going to need more.” He said he had been speaking with people near the Saskatchewan border and they have to salvage their crops because there’s not enough rain for them to finish. “They’re also short of feed because there’s no hay, especially in the dryland areas,” he said. “If you’re a cattle producer, to spend $200 a tonne for hay doesn’t make any economic sense.” He said Lamont County is in an area where there’s been lots of rain and it’s an area where there’s been lots of rain with gumbo soils containing lots of clay. “There’s water pooling in the fields north of Lamont, in the Star area. You’re getting drowned out fields,” he stated. “If we don’t get heat to dry it out you’re going to have that crop either totally die or be non productive.” He said you need heat combined with wind. “If you get a good breeze with some good heat it will dry out pretty quickly.” He said the crop predictions for the fall will range anywhere from excellent to dreadful across the province. “In Lamont you’ll see that variabili-
ty. Guys that had too much rain and a lot of crop sitting in standing water will be doing poorly, but those with crops on high land or on sandier soil may be smiling.” “But don’t forget we haven’t hit our season for hail yet.” “There’s a lot of ground to be covered before now and harvest,” he said. “The potential for disease is there.” He said farmer may have to add some fungicides to their spraying programs. He said in the north of Alberta some farmers are reporting higher levels of grasshoppers. Brook said hemp production shouldn’t be too badly affected by the rain if it’s in a well drained field. “Hemp doesn’t like wet feet,” he said. “The higher areas of the field could produce very well.” He admits heat is the first thing that farmers need right now. “If you took the moisture we’ve received and spread it across the entire amount of land under production in Alberta, we’d all be doing really well,” he said. “Unfortunately it’s uneven distribution. The storms seems to run through the central part of the province angling towards the northeast.”
Rains slow down County road improvements BY JOHN MATHER The heavy rains of recent weeks haven’t helped Lamont County open any roads, some still closed off from spring runoff. “There are issues out there,” said county roads foreman Gerald Thorowsky. “There are about six roads still closed from the spring and the water’s rising and not going away.” He said there were some washouts from storms on July 7. “Some areas don’t even have an inch of rain from yesterday and other areas had three inches.” He added crews were still driving the County looking for areas where there might be potential damage. Thorowsky said while there were no
new road closures from the recent storms. He said in some areas in the north of the County there was not so much rain, but he did report a quarter mile of road had eaten up the shoulder near Hilliard, but he hadn’t had other calls of road washouts. Where the rain hampers the County is in the installation of culverts which have been scheduled for replacement to help with drainage. “It slows us down quite a bit,” said Thorowsky. “There’s more water and you can’t put it in the culverts if there’s water in the base.” He said an additional drainage crew was helping his department keep up with the issues.
e 2: Pasture Growth Conditions as of July 2, 2019
South Central North East North West Peace Alberta 5-year Average 10-year Average
Poor 23.1% 23.6% 6.3% 0.5% 8.0% 17.1% 16.2% 15.6%
Fair 33.3% 24.6% 42.0% 14.7% 43.2% 31.4% 22.7% 19.0%
Good 40.0% 50.1% 46.2% 81.9% 40.6% 47.7% 46.4% 45.5%
Excellent 3.6% 1.8% 5.5% 2.9% 8.2% 3.7% 14.7% 19.8%
Source: AF/AFSC Crop Reporting Survey e 1: Regional Cop Condition Ratings as of July 2, 2019
South Spring Wheat Durum Wheat Winterr Wheat Barley Oats Fall Rye Spring Triticale Canola Dry Peas Lentils Chickpeas Mustard Flax All Crops Major Crops ( ) All Crops, 5-yearr Average All Crops, 10-year Average
Per cent rated in Good to Excellent Condition Central N East N West Peace Alberta
54.5%
79.5%
84.6%
92.33%
55.4%
73.3%
39.6% 46.4% 60.0% 62.6% 80.2% 45.0% 59.3% 57.1%
20.8% 39.8% 86.5% 71.7% 63.7% 47.4% 85.2% 75.5%
--90.0% 76.5% 72.9% 90.0% --79.6% 87.9%
----87.8 % 89.0% 0 ----84.3% 3 91.2% 2
----65.7% 60.6% ----46.0% 63.5%
37.1% 46.2% 75.2% 74.0% 69.8% 47.0% 71.4% 69.5%
29.3% 27.2% 35.3% 59.0%
37.2% 5.0% 21.0% 43.7%
------100.0%
---------
---------
30.6% 26.6% 30.3% 59.0%
54.0% 57.4% 69.6% 70.7%
79.8% 82.6% 62.3% 66.9%
81.6% 81.5% 74.3% 69.3%
88.1% 88.0% 65.5% 5 64.8% 8
52.4% 52.4% 66.0% 70.5%
69.9% 72.6% 68.2% 68.8%
Source: AF/AFSC Crop Reporting Survey