ATHABASCA – Athabasca County has declared a State of Agricultural Disaster following a continued county-wide lack of precipitation.
Drought conditions, a lack of rainfall, and an abundance of grasshoppers have created an unfavourable set of growing conditions for local farmers and ranchers.
“With the current state of moisture and crop condition out there, things are pointing to declaring a state of agricultural disaster. I had my staff do a survey of the county; hay land and pasture are impacted more than crop land at this time but we’ll continue to monitor,” said Ryan Hrywkiw, Athabasca County’s agricultural manager.
The county is following in the footsteps of other northern municipalities, including Lac La Biche County and Smoky Lake County, as well as the M.D. of Bonnyville, who all declared their own states of disaster in late July.
“This serves a signal to the provincial and federal governments that producers need additional support and benefits them in their applications,” said Reeve Tracy Holland.
The municipal declaration does not automatically trigger any access to increased funding for producers either provincially or federally. Instead, Athabasca County is hoping to draw attention to the challenges its local agriculture industry is facing in hopes of support and assistance being provided.
Despite pockets of precipitation occurring across the county, Hrywkiw said the conditions were severe enough to limit hay farmers to one cut instead of the usual two.
“If we declare, and there’s several other municipalities declaring as well, it’s one of those where if (the province) doesn’t know, they can’t make any decisions about it,” he said.
Information will be posted on the county’s website to inform local producers about available agricultural recovery programs. Information on the most recent weather maps can be found here; information on available assistance programs can also be found at the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation’s website www.afsc.ca.
“We need to support our ag producers each and every way we can,” said Holland.
Councillors unanimously approved the declaration during a Aug. 6 special council meeting in a 7-0 vote. Councillors Natasha Kapitaniuk and Camille Wallach were absent.
