Farms in Wheatland County were damaged by wildfires
By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com
An Alberta county is asking for the provincial government’s help in supporting farmers affected by this year’s wildfires.
Wheatland County is specifically asking Alberta to support those without insurance.
“Wheatland County Council made a motion to send a letter to the province of Alberta, requesting support (and) disaster relief for some of our residents that had uninsurable losses,” Allan Parkin, Wheatland’s chief administrative officer, told Global News yesterday.
Sherri Yule, a farmer from Gleichan, Alta., is one of those impacted by the wildfires. The October fires damaged land, 24 antique tractors, fencing and a water well on her property.
The damage, she estimates, is in the neighbourhood of $100,000. Without any insurance, it could mean her farm is out of commission for an extended period of time.
“We can’t have any animals here because we can’t hold them in with any fences and we can’t water them,” she told Global News. “So we won’t be having any animals here (until) at least spring.”
The Agriculture Financial Services Corporation has received over 200 wildfire claims. But insurance can only go so far, said Oneil Carlier, Alberta’s Minister of Agriculture.
“I’m very thankful that most producers do have crop insurance, though no farmer farms for the insurance,” he told Global News. “They farm to get (their) crop off.”
Damages are still being calculated and final figures won’t be known for weeks, he said.
Top photo: Damage to an Alberta farm from an October wildfire
Photo: Global News