Heavy rain brings challenges and benefits for Alberta farmers

spell the important amount of rain down that has been falling in a great deal of telephone exchange and southern Alberta is welcomed by some farmers, the weather system has also left some unable to finish seeding their fields. 

Elizabeth Robbie, a farmer in St. Paul County, still has 700 to 800 acres left to seed and said a wet start to the season combined with recent rainfall has made it challenging to finish planting.  

Soil erosion, temporary overland flooding and delays to fieldwork are some of the issues caused by the heavy rain. 

Robbie, who farms 2,400 acres of land, said she has been working 18 to 20 hours every day to try and seed as much as she can. 

The heavy rain in parts of central and southern Alberta first began to fall over the weekend. 

Christy Climenhaga, a scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said 50 to 100 millimetres of rain is expected across parts of the province by the middle of the week.

Climenhaga said Monday that the Vegreville area had received close to 100 millimetres of rain over the past 48 hours, while Edmonton had seen between 20 and 30 millimetres. 

She said areas west of Calgary had recorded between 40 and 45 millimetres during the same time frame and that Calgary International Airport had received approximately 27 millimetres. 

For the entire month of June, Calgary typically sees 112.7 millimetres of precipitation and in Edmonton the average is 69.9 millimetres, according to Climenhaga.

Some regions are receiving a month's worth of rain in just one or two days, said Trevor Hadwen, an agroclimate specialist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. 

“It's been a very dry month up until the last couple days, and now we're getting all of the monthly rainfall at one time,” he said. “From an agricultural point of view, that can cause some issues." 

Robbie said the rain has brought fieldwork to a standstill. 

“You can't get to some fields,” she said. “Water's running all over — it's running over the road — or culverts aren't keeping up. Some of our dams are overflowing — like, there's just water everywhere.”

Robbie said many farmers in her area are facing similar challenges. 

“There's very little seeded compared to other areas,” she said. A lot of us are very far behind.”

She added that it is too early to know if the rainfall has damaged any newly seeded fields and said she hasn’t been able to get in the fields to check. 

While the rain is delaying seeding in parts of the province, some farmers and agricultural experts explained that the precipitation is also bringing benefits after years of dry seasons. 

Hadwen said many farmers are likely to welcome the boost to soil moisture and reserves. 

“We're hoping for this to be a short-term benefit actually, for the moisture levels,” he said. 

Robbie said the moisture will help improve pasture conditions and water supply for livestock.

“We should have great pastures to feed our cows, so that's a great thing,” she said.

A farmer near Bentley, who said he finished planting 10 days ago, is welcoming the rain. 

Jason Lenz said he has seen approximately 50 millimetres of rainfall over the last couple of days and would be fine with more. 

“I think this rain system that's going through right now is going to have a very positive effect on both crops, and probably bigger, more positive effects on grassland pasture," he said.

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