Alberta Farmers Continue To Deal With Wet Conditions

Jul 01, 2020

Most areas of the Prairies have seen some rain showers, thunderstorms, and even hail activity through the month of June.

Ashan Shooshtarian, a Crop Statstician with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, says a large area covering the western half of the Central Region, most parts of the North West Region, eastern parts of the North East Region and the south and east of the Peace Region have been very wet, receiving at least 200 mm of rain over the past 60 days.

"Within this area, there are some extremely wet pockets that have received more than 200 mm of precipitation, which has been almost twice the normal amount in those areas."

Provincially, 79 per cent of crops are now rated in good or excellent condition, above the 5-year average of 70 per cent and the 10-year average of 74 per cent.

Compared to the regional 5-year averages, crop conditions are better than normal in all regions, except for the North West.

"Crop development is slightly behind normal in all areas, but with warmer temperatures, they can catch up. Heat is needed in the region to hasten crop development and aid recovery from excess moisture."

Shooshtarian says pasture and tame hay fields in the province are mainly in good shape and in fact, they look the best they have in the last five years, except for small low areas that had flooding.

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