RM of St. Laurent Declares State of Agricultural Disaster

The Rural Municipality of St. Laurent has declared a state of agricultural disaster as severe drought conditions coupled with last week's bout of extreme heat is making farming increasingly difficult.

The region has received less than 40 per cent of average rainfall and is also battling a grasshopper infestation. As a result, concern surrounding crop yields continues to mount. RM of St. Laurent Reeve, Cheryl Smith, notes the measure was necessary in order for producers to access any provincial or federal relief that becomes available.

"We are truly focused on trying to assist the agricultural sector in our municipality at the moment. Our ratepayers that are farmers contribute quite a bit to this municipality," says Smith. "But it also hits us pretty hard when these families are going through what they're going through. It's a real financial hardship for them. And we always worry that we're going to lose some of our family farms that have been farming here for decades. They contribute quite a bit to the municipality by way of being good community citizens as well as paying and contributing to the overall tax base of the municipality."

Smith says the state of the local emergency highlights the devastation that farmers are going through right now. Dugouts are bone dry, causing farmers to resort to the expensive practice of pumping water from lakes, which is, at best, a band-aid solution.

St. Laurent farmer Tom Johnson was born and raised on farms in the area and says this is nothing he's ever seen before.

"Our pastures are drying up. The dugouts are drying up, We've actually had to drill two wells to water our cows in two of our pastures," says Johnson. "I'll be 64 years old in November, and I've been farming here my whole life, and I've never seen it this dry. As far as hay goes, there's absolutely no amount for hay. The grasshoppers are eating what's there, and everyone is sitting back, waiting to see if we're going to get a little bit of rain."

Johnson adds he's witnessed the conditions become drier over the past three years. He also expects neighbouring RMs like Woodlands, Portage la Prairie, and others in the Interlake area to follow suit and declare similar states of emergency. Johnson says this is a stark contrast from the flooding St. Laurent received a decade ago.

"It's hard to believe that everything was underwater, and now it's so dry, it's the complete opposite. Going through the drought is worse than the flood," he says. "At least in the flood, we had lots of pasture, and there was hay that wasn't under water. We are way better off when we're wet than when we're dry in this part of the country. When we're dry, we're in rough shape."

Johnson says he's seen lots of farmers leave the industry since the flood, and fears even more family-owned farms will soon start selling off their animals.

He notes, "farmers are the biggest gamblers, so who knows what will happen."

According to the latest models, St. Laurent could see come precipitation next week.