Alberta farmers battling snowy conditions

Producers concerned quality and quantity could be at risk

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Farmers in parts of Alberta are worried the recent snowfall could have significant impacts on their crops.

“It’s disheartening,” Deryk Sanford, a producer in Lavoy, Alberta, told Global News. “We really had our hopes up (and) now we have to be realistic with what’s been dealt to us.”

Approximately 10 centimetres of snow fell on Friday. Sanford said Mother Nature’s cooperation is necessary if he wants to harvest the remaining third of his crop.

“If we were to get a good week of no precipitation, sunshine, (and) warm weather, we have the opportunity go get out there and take the rest of the harvest,” he told Global News, adding farmers need between two and three weeks of dry weather.

And the longer the crop stays in the ground, the more it impacts current and future production potential.

“The quantity we’re going to produce is up in the air,” Sanford said. “If we were to not be able to harvest this year’s crop, it impacts our 2017 production right at the beginning of the season.”

“We still have to deal with the crop that’s left out there,” he told Global News. “Even if the yield, the quantity and the quality is reduced, we still have to deal with all the straw.”