WESTLOCK/BARRHEAD – This year farmers in the area saw a dry April, an early start to seeding, steady rains then a mid-summer heat wave and a warm fall.
Farmers had differing opinions on how the crop season went for them.
“This year’s farming season in Westlock County has been a journey of both challenges and resilience,” County of Westlock Reeve Christine Wiese said.
“From unpredictable weather patterns to the ongoing need for innovation in crop and livestock management, it’s clear that our community of farmers stands strong together.
The challenge of rising input costs and lower grain prices is ongoing, adding further strain to our operations, Wiese said.
“However, there’s good news on the cattle side, with current pricing bringing a welcome boost to our livestock producers.”
“Westlock County continues to support our farmers by investing in infrastructure, road maintenance, and agricultural resources to ensure that despite these hurdles, agriculture remains a cornerstone of our local economy.”
Weise farms alongside her husband Troy.
“Farming is a beautiful life and I'm grateful to be able to be a farmer here in Westlock County."
Two weeks ago, there were still barley fields not harvested, according to Pieter Van Dasselaar from Alberta Feed Grain.
Canola fields struggled, going dormant in the extreme heat and then getting a second bloom.
In October there were fields full of yellow flowers across multiple counties.
“There are still people going (harvesting) Northeast of us, from Westlock to Athabasca over to St. Paul, towards Two Hills and coming back to Thorhild,” said Van Dasselaar.
“In the middle to beginning of October some people hadn't even started yet and then just two weeks ago there was still another pocket in Valley View not done."
“You get past September October and November you don't have drying days anymore. In Neerlandia everybody was 100 per cent done."
Van Dasselaar said farmers are having trouble adjusting to the lower prices.
"I would think yield wise we are probably on the average, maybe just a little bit above average.”
County of Barrhead Deputy reeve Marvin Schatz said from the information he heard that crops were average.
Uwe Quedenbaum is a crop farmer in Barrhead County and the Chair of the Barrhead District Seed Cleaning Co-op.
He talks to producers all over Alberta and says that even in Lethbridge, where seeding should have been done early, they didn’t finish until late May.
“It's been definitely an interesting year. That goes all across the province I think," he said.
“We started seeding in early May and April it was kind of dry. I figured everything would be early and then the rain started and then we never finished till end of May with seeding.
"Then we had the rains here that didn't help. When I was spraying, I was making ruts in the field because of all the rain.
“Then we had all that heat. That wasn't good in my case. The canola and the wheat really suffered under that heat. Everything else seemed too have been OK but that cost us some money.”
Quedeenbaum started his harvest early because of fall rye.
“End of August we were in the field but we had little rain showers all the time and in the end I think we only finished on the 20th of October.”
“It's been a long one and you know looking back an interesting one but not in a good way. It was quite stressful.”
He explained that the barley did not want to mature. The last of his crop came in at 22 per cent moisture, forcing him to dry it, a job which was only finished last week.
“My friend there in central Alberta they yielded only half of what we had (canola) because they were so dry all year,” said Quedenbaum.
“Prices are quite a bit down from last year again so financially it'll be tough.”
Quedenbaum said farming can look easy from the outside because it can appear all a farmer does is sit in his combine all day. Farming is not great if you don’t see the value in their work.
“When prices are down, and yields are down, there is nothing I can do about it. Weather I can’t change and world markets I can’t change either,” added Quedenbaum.
