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Another ‘harvest from hell’: Canada’s farmers forced to acclimatize to weird weather

Late this summer, at least 12 counties in Manitoba declared a “state of agricultural emergency.” It was too dry.
 
In November, two Alberta counties declared “municipal agriculture disasters.” It was too wet.
 
And they weren’t the first in the province to point out the difficulties farmers are facing this year.
 
Persistent wet weather in the Leduc area prompted the local government there to declare an agricultural disaster in September. In August, Lac Ste. Anne county, northwest of Edmonton, declared a state of agricultural disaster for the second year in a row.
 
In Grande Prairie, which declared an agricultural disaster in early November, county officials said in a press release that between 40 and 60 per cent of crops were still in the fields. Early snowfall, they added, was “ending any chance of increasing the figures this season.” 
 
This sort of volatility in weather is only expected to increase, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The federal government agency warns on its website that droughts, floods and violent storms are all predicted to increase in frequency as a result of climate change.
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Everything, Everywhere, All at Once - April Hemmes

Video: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once - April Hemmes

Breaks are hard to come by in harvest. That’s why we took the MtoM podcasting equipment to the field to visit on the issues of the day with April Hemmes of Hampton, Iowa. She filled us in on her thoughts on trade negotiations, inputs costs and machinery prices. Then she turned the tables and put Paul behind the steering wheel and started asking her own questions.