'Everything is dying': Prairie farmers, crops struggling with yearly droughts

It’s the ninth year in a row Quinton Jacksteit’s farm has experienced drought.

The southwest Saskatchewan farmer, who also is the reeve for the Rural Municipality of Big Stick, says his crops are extremely short, and he plans to salvage most of them for animal feed.

“They’re not going to be able to make much of a yield,” he said in a recent interview from his home near Golden Prairie, east of the Saskatchewan-Alberta boundary.

“I’m going to scrape through and maybe be able to go another year, but I have a couple of boys that want to farm, and it’s not something that I would recommend to them at this particular time.”

Others are worse off, he added.

“It may be the end for them. That could be a three- or four-generation farm.”

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s drought monitor shows swaths of the country have been anywhere from abnormally dry to extremely parched.

Trevor Hadwin, an agri-climate specialist with the department, said southwest Saskatchewan, near the Alberta boundary, has been severely depleted of moisture for eight years. This year, he said, pastures have dried up and ranchers are looking to buy extra hay they can’t grow.

Some have also reduced their herds or moved cattle to green pastures.

“Sometimes, that’s been 300, 400 kilometres away,” Hadwen said.

“For crop producers, we’re seeing a reduction in yield potential. Crops are maturing much more rapidly than you would hope and will not produce as much seed content.”

Alberta’s Peace River region in the northwest, as well as the province’s southwest corner, are also arid, he added.
In Saskatchewan, Big Stick and neighbouring municipalities have declared states of emergency to spread awareness of the drought. Virginia Maier, the reeve of Enterprise, said her peas likely won’t produce pods.