Local crop conditions variable as municipalities declare ag disasters

Posted on July 27, 2023 by admin

By Trevor Busch
Westwind Weekly News

Growing conditions vary widely across the riding as midsummer approaches, reports Taber-Warner MLA Grant Hunter.

“In our area, it’s very spotty. Some have had some really good rain in the dry land, and some haven’t,” said Hunter. “And so we’re going to need to make sure that we’ve got those wraparound services for farmers, and we do have a pretty good suite of options for them. So we’re keeping an eye on that. Minister Sigurdson (Agriculture and Irrigation), is well aware of that. Minister Horner (Finance), who used to be in that role as well, is aware of it he worked quite tirelessly on that as well. But we’re keeping a close eye on that.”

Closer to home, the Municipal District of Taber has thrown in the proverbial towel declaring an agricultural disaster last week, joining the counties of Vulcan, Foothills, Stettler, Paintearth, Cypress and Wheatland. 

For an agricultural disaster to be declared, 50 to 90 per cent of a municipality needs to experience extreme crop reduction. 

Hot, dry weather and very little precipitation have combined to make growing conditions unfavourable across wide swaths of the province.

Over the summer, Hunter is working on further agri-food development along Highway 3 while taking care of some of the routine business of an MLA.

“Just trying to work on this agri-food processing corridor. This is going to be really the lion’s share of the work that I do. Obviously meeting with constituents, sharing their concerns or issues that they might have, trying to work through some of those things with them. And that’s always one of the most rewarding parts of the of the job of being an MLA is being able to work through individual one-on-one issues. So I always appreciate being able to do that.”