Crops devastated by fourth driest July in Medicine Hat history

While the one that gets roughly 10 inches of irrigated moisture a year is tall and green, the crop that depends on rainfall is brittle and yellow.

“You can really notice the difference of the size of the heads and the wheat that will be contained within, so this crop here is pretty hard on the pocket book,” she says.

Nichole Neubauer comparing two wheat crops (Courtesy: Bob Schneider)

While June saw 60 millimetres of precipitation of its 64 average, July was staggeringly lower than normal.

“July was very dry, it was actually the fourth driest July on record for the Medicine Hat region,” says Kyle Fougere, meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

The spring months also only saw 43 of the average 83 millimetres of precipitation.

“This years drought has really surpassed what most farmers that I speak to in their collective memory can’t remember it ever being this dry before, and it comes on the heals of two other years of significantly dry conditions as well,” says Neubauer.

The Medicine Hat area has been in a moderate drought since the beginning of July, a month that only saw 5 of its 41 millimetre average of rainfall.

However, August is bringing wetter conditions.

“The start of August has been a little bit better, there has been a bit of precipitation in the area, there are showers in the area today as we’re expecting more so as of now it’s on pace to be average or just below average for August so far,” says Fougere.

However, it’s too late in the year to save many crops.

“This crop is ready to combined, this rain has absolutely no benefit to this current crop, in fact it will cause some bleaching and maybe will degrade it’s value should the rain continue,” says Neubauer.

Nichole Neubauer’s wheat crop (Courtesy: Bob Schneider)

She’s also taken a loss on dry-land pea and lentil crops, and struggling, like many other ranchers, with her cattle.

Feed is scarce across Alberta, and the prairie grasses ranchers depend on to feed their cattle is dried out.

“We know that this year has been really hard on the ranching community, it’s been evident by the local fires, we have cattle that are coming home early from community pastures.” says Neubauer. “Limited amount of forage and hay to buy means what there is, its going to be expensive.”

The summer is likely to cause long-term damage to farmers.

“Unfortunately this year farmers may not have the resources to put into expanding their businesses because with a crop like this we’re not going to make enough to cover the inputs that it took to try and grow it, the fertilizer, the seed, the costs associated with pest control, weed control,” says Neubauer.

However, while the damage is done for her wheat crops, Neubauer is hoping for more rain to replenish the prairie grass for cattle, and saturate the ground with frost for next year.

“If we could get some frost in the ground, in the spring should we get a quick melt, that watershed will end up filling up dugouts, watersheds and that’s a vital piece to ranching in this country as well,” says Neubauer.

According to Fougere the weather may finally be in their favour, with the area likely getting it’s average 87 millimetres of rain during the Fall months.

“The official forecast for our three month period of August, September and October is for us to have about a normal three month period precipitation wise,” he says.

by Jessie Weisner

Crops devastated by fourth driest July in Medicine Hat history

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