Local farmers facing a ‘desperate situation’ with no end in sight to heat wave, drought
CYPRESS COUNTY, AB – Local farmers say they’re at a tipping point as hot and dry conditions have them facing the possibility of not making a crop this year and looking at financial hardships that will be difficult to recover from.
“Our dryland acres are in, basically, in a desperate situation,” said Nichole Neubauer of Neubauer Farms. “We’ve had very limited rainfall the effect is compounded by consecutive years of drought. We’ve had below-average precipitation with very minimal snowpack since 2017 each year inclusive and the hot dry temperatures are creating a situation where crops are devastated.”
Neubauer Farms, which grows cereals, oilseeds and pulses throughout Cypress County.
She says the irrigation crops are doing a lot better but even those crops are suffering because of the extreme heat and the difficulty replenishing the evaporation loss that occurs. She expects their irrigated crops will also have less yield.