{"id":75287,"date":"2024-03-18T16:09:39","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T22:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=75287"},"modified":"2024-03-18T16:09:39","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T22:09:39","slug":"southern-alberta-farmers-brace-for-severe-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2024\/03\/18\/southern-alberta-farmers-brace-for-severe-drought\/","title":{"rendered":"Southern Alberta farmers brace for severe drought"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 854px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-75287-1\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/mininininini.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/mininininini.mp4\">http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/mininininini.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span class=\"wpsdc-drop-cap\">L<\/span>arry Gibb was driving his seeder truck when a voice came over the radio announcing the first case of mad cow disease in Canada.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The borders closed the next day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI can remember shipping cattle for 25 cents a pound,\u201d Gibb says.\u00a0 \u201cI can remember sitting on the loading shoot after the trucks pulled away just crying to see what happened to our industry overnight.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As we head towards the 2024 summer season, Alberta is at severe risk of a drought, leaving <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gibb to hope history doesn\u2019t repeat itself when it comes to the impact on ranchers and farmers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The province is sitting at stage four (out of five) of water management shortage, meaning there is currently a large-scale lack of water.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That has Southern Alberta farmers like Gibb worried about the fate of their crops and livestock in the summer ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the shadow of the Chief Mountain, Gibb operates a mixed farm, with a calving operation, a small feedlot, and the raising of crops such as canola, barley and wheat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI grew up on the farm and worked beside my dad and I grew to love the farm,\u201d said Gibb, of Hillspring, Alta. \u201cI think I was born to be a farmer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe water situation is definitely a concern for this year. We\u2019ve had drought conditions for a couple years now, and they\u2019ve only worsened.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hillspring is located 32 km west of Cardston Alta, and has a population of 168 people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0In August of 2023, the Southern Region of Alberta received less than 80 mm of rain, with a large area across the southern third of the region that received less than 40mm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The winter has been abnormally warm as well, with precipitation levels lower than average. According to the Government of Alberta, there is a 63 per cent chance of these conditions continuing into May and June.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_75312\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75312\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-75312\" src=\"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240304streeter-11267-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1672\" srcset=\"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240304streeter-11267-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240304streeter-11267-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240304streeter-11267-1024x669.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240304streeter-11267-768x502.jpg 768w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240304streeter-11267-1536x1003.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240304streeter-11267-2048x1338.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-75312\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Larry Gibb pets one his cows on Monday, March 4, 2024. Gibb operates a mixed farm in Hillspring, Alta. (Photo by Abbey Whitehead\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many areas across the four\u00a0 agricultural zones have remained snow free according to the Government of Alberta. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf there&#8217;s no water, there is no ag industry,\u201d said Chad Folsom, another local farmer. \u201cWater is everything.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Folsom is a fifth-generation dairy farmer in Hillspring. His farm is home to a robotic milking system which milks 500 cows a day. The cows produce eight to nine gallons of milk per day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With Alberta\u2019s unstable climate, a majority of southern Alberta farmers turn to other methods to keep their crops and livestock alive without the promise of rain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cA third of our land is irrigated,\u201d said Gibb \u201cToday, all of our irrigating is done with center pivots which is very efficient.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Water from irrigation is provided to more than 40 municipalities and thousands of rural residents in Alberta, while businesses also receive water through the system to support their operations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Irrigation licences total 3.5 billion cubic meters per year and make up to 60 to 65 per cent of the province&#8217;s water usage, according to a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.albertalandinstitute.ca\/public\/download\/documents\/44770\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2017 report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from the Alberta Land Institute.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But irrigation is now at risk with Alberta\u2019s large-scale water shortage.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_75310\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75310\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-75310\" src=\"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305streeter-11360-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305streeter-11360-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305streeter-11360-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305streeter-11360-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305streeter-11360-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305streeter-11360-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305streeter-11360-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-75310\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A center pivot in one of Gibbs fields. Center pivots are used by many farmers across Alberta. (Photo by Abbey Whitehead\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The district of Hillspring relies solely on the Belly River, which stretches as far as Montana and meets with the Oldman River.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe have no storage, no reservoir, no dam for our end of the district,\u201d Gibb said. \u201cWe count on the flow of the Belly River. Once that flow gets down to a certain level, we&#8217;re done. We have no more water.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With such dry and hot temperatures the past years, Hillspring farmers have been dangerously close to running out of water.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They hope 2024 does not go down as the year when the worst-case scenario actually happened.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe\u2019ve had to bring our animals in from pasture earlier, because we ran out of feed,\u201d said Folsom \u201cIt\u2019s probably raised our costs 10 per cent. With the droughts we have to spend a lot of our costs bringing feed in.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gibb shares a similar concern.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe\u2019ve had pastures where we\u2019ve had to haul water to the cattle during the summer,\u201d said Gibb \u201cThe dugouts and ponds have dried up completely.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think that this will continue to be a part of Southern Alberta, Hopefully we&#8217;re just going through a period of drought and the wet years will return again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_75313\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75313\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-75313\" src=\"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305streeter-11348-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1653\" srcset=\"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305streeter-11348-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305streeter-11348-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305streeter-11348-1024x661.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305streeter-11348-768x496.jpg 768w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305streeter-11348-1536x992.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305streeter-11348-2048x1323.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-75313\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chad Folsom, a fifth generation dairy farmer. Folsom farms is home to a robotic milking system which milks 500 cows a day. (Photo by Abbey Whitehead\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>In the shadow of Chief Mountain, Larry Gibb operates a mixed farm, with a calving operation, a small feedlot, and the raising of crops such as canola, barley and wheat.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI grew up on the farm and worked beside my dad and I grew to love the farm,\u201d said Gibb, of Hillspring, Alta. \u201cI think I was born to be a farmer.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe water situation is definitely a concern for this year. We\u2019ve had drought conditions for a couple of years now, and they\u2019ve only worsened.\u201d <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2024\/03\/18\/southern-alberta-farmers-brace-for-severe-drought\/\" title=\"Southern Alberta farmers brace for severe drought\">[ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":880,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S4 drought Story","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1725,13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-75287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-life","7":"category-nature","8":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/880"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75287"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75709,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75287\/revisions\/75709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}