'Everything started regrowing': Alberta farmers welcome rainfall

Recent rainy days have given a big boost to local farmers and producers.

With up to 100 millimetres of precipitation in parts of the province this past weekend, the rain is being heralded as "a blessing" by Airdrie-area farmer Larry Woolliams.

"The rain is impeccable timing for a lot of us around the Rocky View area," he said. 

Woolliams Farms, which grows hay, seed and straw, benefited significantly from the wet weather, with Airdrie receiving more than 70 millimetres of rain since last Friday.

With drought conditions in the area, the rainfall couldn't have been more welcome, Woolliams said.

"Things stopped growing upwards. They were growing downwards, trying to chase that water," he said.

"It's just not good prime growing conditions," Woolliams said about dealing with dry soil and high temperatures exacerbated by strong winds. He said he only had up to two weeks of reserve moisture for his crops before the much-needed rainfall.

"You could just see everything give that sigh of relief once this rain started coming," he said. "Everything started regrowing."

Parts of Alberta soaked, others dry

Much of Alberta experienced the rainfall, but some parts of the province are still dealing with drought conditions.

Trevor Hadwen, an agroclimate specialist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, said farms that received heavy rainfall will benefit significantly, but some areas didn't receive as much rain as they needed.

"Certainly the rainfall has helped in many regions of the province, but areas in the north, especially the Peace River region, and areas in the southeast did not receive very much rainfall, or any at all, this past weekend," he said.

"We've seen extremely dry conditions in both those regions this spring."

According to Hadwen, Calgary and the surrounding area benefited the most from the rainfall, with some precipitation totals west of the city reaching over 100 millimetres. Parts of western and central Alberta received 50 to 75 millimetres, he said. 

"The main agricultural region of Alberta got significant moisture this past weekend," he said.

"This is a blessing for sure. This provides [farmers impacted by drought conditions] optimism to move forward. It provides them a couple weeks of good moisture and it provides some ability to move forward in the season without this rainfall."

Hadwen also said the heavy rainfall did not come with many of the negative outcomes often associated with similar weather events, like plant washout or infrastructure damage.

"We're not hearing that, so the storm event seems to be all positive at this point," he said.

Despite that relief for many local farmers, drought conditions outside of those areas remain "a very big concern for producers in the region," Hadwen said.

"The area of Medicine Hat, down in the [southeast] corner of the province, we are watching that area very closely," he said.

According to the government of Alberta, the Medicine Hat area is classified as abnormally dry, while some of the province's southernmost parts are experiencing severe drought conditions.

Lethbridge, which received just under 45 millimetres of rain on Saturday, is among the communities impacted by severe drought conditions.

More rainfall is expected in the Calgary area in the coming days.