Melting Alberta snow floods fields

Apr 18, 2018

One farmer estimates his planting is almost a month behind schedule

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Flooding caused by melting snow has put some Alberta farmers’ seeding plans on hold.

“As far as planting, I think we’re two to three weeks behind,” Ryan Mercer, owner of Mercer Seeds, a seed retailer in Lethbridge County, Alta., told Global News yesterday.

Around the clock operations may be needed to recover the lost time, he added.

With much of the ground frozen, soils can’t absorb the water. So, it runs off into roads and backs up drainage systems.

Lethbridge County declared a state of local emergency on Monday morning and lifted it this morning.

Until the water recedes enough, all farmers like Mercer can do is make the necessary preparations for when field conditions cooperate.

“We’re just trying to be as organized as possible, having the seed in place and having the drills ready to go,” he told Global News. “So when we do actually get in the field we can just get the seed in as fast as we can.”

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.