CYPRESS COUNTY, Alta. — Alberta farmers are starting to find out what they have to show for persevering through a difficult season.
The beginning of the year was extremely dry causing uneven germination. Rain in June restored a lot of optimism, but July brought heat and a battle with grasshoppers for many farmers in the county. Prolonged heat through August sped up the curing of some crops causing kernels to shrink, losing some grain and value heading into the harvest.
“All in all we’ve been really quite pleased, surprisingly, given the conditions,” says Nichole Neubauer, a farmer in the county. “We’ve been really pleased with our yields in our cereals. They’re maybe just slightly less than average.”
The Neubauer farm is located just north of Irvine, and grows cereals, oilseeds, forage and raises beef cattle. The farm has been in the family for 112 years and Neubauer said the land never disappoints.
“Even when mother nature is stingy with the rain and creates a lot of heat, we’re always amazed and surprised at how our land continues to produce and thrive under every circumstance there is,” Neubauer said.
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