Farmers in Bonnyville have until Aug. 31 to participate
Prairie farmers have more time to provide input on how Richardson’s ground squirrels (gophers) are affecting their operations.
The Municipal District of Bonnyville is giving farmers in the area until Aug. 31 to participate in a producer survey. The original deadline was June 30.
“Your responses will help us to better understand local conditions, assess impacts to agricultural operations, and share current data with the province to advocate for approved usage of Strychnine within the severely affected locations in the municipality,” the survey says.
The survey includes questions asking farmers to identify the kind of farm they operate, if they’ve encountered Richardson’s ground squirrels on their farms, and which land uses have been affected.
These rodents can cause significant harm to farm operations.
In June 2025, for example, Alberta’s then minister of agriculture RJ Sigurdson wrote to federal ag minister Heath MacDonald warning “Alberta alone is facing over $800 million in annual risk to hay and native pasture” because of gophers, and called on the federal government to reverse its ban on 2 per cent liquid strychnine so farmers can manage these pests.
Ottawa did approve the emergency use of strychnine on March 30 for parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
But Bonnyville wasn’t included in Alberta’s map.
“As a municipality located on the fringe of the boreal forest, the M.D., along with several other municipalities in similar regions, were excluded from the approval area,” the municipality said in an April 8 statement.
July 15 marked the first day farmers in Alberta and Saskatchewan could use strychnine to control the rodents.
Usage is authorized until Sept. 1, but it may already be too late.
“The best time to use products like this is prior to green up in the spring,” Shelby Oracheski, the agricultural fieldman for the M.D. of Wainwright, told CBC. “Once alternative food sources start becoming available, the bait is just a lot less attractive.”