Farmer Writes: dealing with drought on the prairies

Our farm is located in East Central Alberta, at the northern edge of the open prairies.

My father’s grandfather homesteaded his first 160ac here in the early 1900s and we currently work about 4,000 acres made up of native pasture, improved pasture, hay land and some cultivated land.

By western Canadian standards, we are not a particularly big operation.

Ours is an area of extremes, with winter temperatures down to -400C and summer temperatures up to 400C.

It’s often windy, it’s often dry. Our growing season is short at 100 days and, in a bad year, winter can last from October until May. But what can’t be cured must be endured, we’ve learned to live with it.

We’re currently finishing 170 Maine-Anjou steers and heifers and have 350 mature cows and replacement heifers on pasture with bulls. We grow wheat and canola as cash crops and oats, barley, and hay for winter feed.

My wife and I keep a few sheep and pigs as well, but on a very small-scale: economics demand we sink our time and energy into the beef and grain operations.

We’ve recently finished bringing our disappointingly small hay crop in and are busy keeping water and grass in front of the herd, which is a challenge during a summer of drought.

In the next month, we expect to finish the grain harvest and to gear up for the winter feeding period. We have to be prepared to start feeding any time between October and January.

In general terms, we’re looking at prices for both grain and cattle that are slightly better than this time last year.

December fats (forward stores) like ours are trading around 110 Canadian dollars (CAD)/cwt (€1.65/kg),which is 10CAD higher than last year, and canola is trading for about 500CAD/t (€336/t), up 10CAD/t (€36/t) from last year. It’s anyone’s guess where the market will head in the next few weeks and no one is very hopeful right now. The Canadian dollar may rise or fall, harvest weather may turn sour, cattlemen in drought areas might sell their calves early and flood the feeder market.

Inputs such as fertiliser, fuel and repairs have stayed about the same from 2016 to 2017. Diesel is up about 0.07CAD/l (€0.05/l) in the last year to $0.90/l (€0.90/l).

Urea is selling for 10CAD/t (€6.70/t) less at $524/t (€356/t).

Lower world oil prices have benefitted prairie farmers but the lower dollar dampens the effect.

Locally, we expect feed costs will be higher this year. Widespread drought on the northern plains means everyone is looking for feed but nothing is certain until the harvest is finished. Most prairie farmers have received 50% or less of normal annual rainfall.

One of the big topics for prairie farmers right now is Donald Trump.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiation launched by the Trump administration will also shape farm folks’ futures and everyone has an opinion on it. It affects the entire Canadian economy and drives home the point that, whether they support or oppose free trade with the US, most Canadians are affected by our trading relationship with our southern neighbours.

Don’t think that everything here is bad, though. As drought and commodity prices go, we’ve come through much worse.

Free trade negotiations and the vagaries of the markets threaten the status quo but they also force many of us to seek new opportunities. Our farm now sells fat cattle into the EU certified, natural beef market, rather than the conventional market.

Rural depopulation has, locally at least, slowed down and more young families like mine are living and working on nearby farms. Overall, I’m cautiously optimistic about the immediate and long-term success of farms and ranches like ours on the Canadian Prairies.