Alberta’s drought shaping up to be ‘worse than we saw in the 1920s, 1930s’

May 31, 2024

Lentils only like water twice, explained southern Alberta farmer Lynn Jacobson. “When you plant them and when you boil them.” The earthy pulse may not be massively popular but they’re an attractive crop for farmers facing a drought.

“But they all take a certain amount of water and if you don’t have any water, no matter what your plan is, you’re really going to suffer,” said Jacobson.

For months, Albertans have been worrying about what the unusually dry winter with low levels of snowfall and a summer forecast of light rain. Would it mean dying lawns and wilted flowers? An agriculture disaster? A bad wildfire season?

The past few years have been dry, but it’s been almost 25 years since Alberta has been this dry. Some counties have announced states of agricultural emergency. During the last major drought, in 2001–2002, net farm income was zero. It cost the Canadian economy $5.3 billion and 41,000 people lost their jobs across the country.

In April, Alberta got rain. In fact, the rainfall was above normal for that time of year in much of the province — with the exceptions of central and northwestern Alberta — according to an analysis of drought conditions from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

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Video: Why Invest in Canada’s Seed Future? | On The Brink: Episode 3

Darcy Unger just invested millions to build a brand-new seed plant on his farm in Stonewall, Manitoba so when it’s time for his sons to take over, they have the tools they need to succeed.

Right now, 95% of the genetics they’ll be growing come from Canadian plant breeders.

That number matters.

When fusarium hit Western Canada in the late 90s, it was Canadian breeders who responded, because they understood Canadian conditions. That ability to react quickly to what’s happening on Canadian farms is exactly what’s at risk when breeding programs lose funding.

For farmers like Darcy, who have made generational investments based on the assumption that better genetics will keep coming, the stakes are direct and personal.

We’re on the brink of decisions that will shape our agricultural future for not only our generation, but also the ones to come.

What direction will we choose?

On The Brink is a year-long video series traveling across Canada to meet the researchers, breeders, farmers, seed companies, and policymakers shaping the future of Canadian plant breeding. Each week, a new story. Each story, a piece of the bigger picture.

Episode 3 is above. Follow Seed World Canada to catch every episode, and tell us: Do you think the next generation will have the tools they need to success when they takeover? How is the future going to look?