Foothills County latest to declare agricultural disaster as drought grips areas of Alberta

A lack of early season moisture, unseasonably high temperatures and varying winter snowpack have led to poor growing conditions throughout Foothills County, south of Calgary, prompting the municipal district on Wednesday to declare a municipal agricultural disaster.

"Once you get down south of Blackie, south of High River, really, we're looking at a repeat of 2021, when we had that severe drought down there," said Caleb Scott, Foothills County's manager of agricultural services.

Two years ago, multiple provincial municipalities declared disasters. 

In Foothills County this year, 50 to 90 per cent of annual crops and perennial forage stands have been affected, with eastern areas receiving less than 35 per cent of their average annual rainfall, the county says. Some areas have seen less than two inches (50 mm) to date.

Municipal agricultural disasters don't automatically trigger funding or program responses but are used to signal to provincial and federal governments, as well as the public, that conditions facing farmers have grown dire.

Foothills County's declaration follows several around the province, including the County of Stettler and the County of Paintearth.

Vulcan County also has declared.

Kelly Malmberg, director of agriculture with Vulcan County, said soil moisture reserves are very low this year. There was enough moisture to get seeded in the county, but due to the dry, prolonged heat, they ran out of moisture.  

That will mean yield loss this year, with less grain production, and cattle producers who will struggle to find sufficient feed without relying on other areas of the province.

"I'd say, the last five, six years, with the exception of 2022, we are going through a pretty serious drought. We haven't had a lot of our typical winters where we get a fair amount of snow," he said.

"I was hoping this winter, we saw a fair bit of moisture, and I thought we were coming out of this drought. But obviously not. We're right smack dab in the middle of it right now."

Significant rains did fall on Alberta on a wide area of the province starting on June 13. It ranged from roughly Calgary in the south to the southern portions of the Peace Region in the north, according the provincial government's most recent moisture situation report.

Much of the northwest region was inundated with rain, while the northern Peace Region, as well as parts of the southern region and eastern portions of the central region, received little to no rain and remain in immediate need for moisture, the report reads. 

The province says it's constantly monitoring crop and water supply conditions as a top priority.

Some of the moisture levels in central and southern Alberta are estimated to have soil moisture reserves near once-in-50-year lows, notes Savannah Johannsen, a spokesperson for Alberta's minister of agriculture and irrigation.

"We are continuously looking into more options to try and aid our farmers during this time," she wrote in a statement. 

"As we do every growing season, we encourage producers to look at Agriculture Financial Services Corporation's business risk management options to find ones that make sense for their operation."

Agriculture is an important part of Alberta's economy. In 2021, the industry contributed $8.1 billion in GDP, employing more than 58,300 Albertans, according to Invest Alberta.