During the spring planting season, some farmers across the Peace Region were worried they would have to contend with another year of drought.
Over the past three years, northeast BC hasn’t seen the amount of rain needed for farmers to grow crops with strong enough yields.
Barry and Irmi Critcher own Critcher Farms Ltd. near Tower Lake. They said they have seen everything, from extreme drought to ideal growing conditions, on their farm over the past 40 years.
“Coming off of three really dry years, we were hoping this year wouldn’t be one,” said Barry.
After early seeding at the beginning of May, both farmers were anticipating the warm temperatures would help their crops to grow.
Barry said eventually, their crops stopped growing and were starting to die. It happened after a tough couple of weeks in May and June that saw temperatures reach 30 degrees with little to no rain. But unlike other years, after enough rain in July, the season slowly got back on track.
“The year turned around drastically. If you’d asked me in early June, I would have said we were heading for one of the biggest wrecks we’ve seen,” said Barry.
The Critcher’s were not the only one worried at the start of the season. Irmi said the federal government was encouraging farmers across the Peace Region to submit crop insurance claims due to lower than expected yields. She explained that when your in the middle of a bad season, crop insurance is a farm’s “first line of defense.”
Now, Barry is optimistic because the July rain has extended the growing season. “The moisture is here, things look pretty good,” he said.
Barry is hoping for a balance between warm and wet conditions until it’s time to harvest in September. According to Environment Canada, the forecast is heading that direction.
“There’re chances of precipitation again for the early part of August. If you go further into the month, the trend is showing warmer, drier conditions. For the balance of the month, it looks like it’s about normal,” said Matt Loney, Environment Canada Meteorologist.
Barry said because crops grow all over the world, lower yields across the Peace Region would not impact the market dramatically.
As inflation continues to affect the price of food, Irmi said there’s currently a lot of uncertainty in the market. She said prices have gone up and down. Irmi added, that for how high the cost of inputs for farmer are right now, the prices remain quite low.
“The production cost for this year has gone up,” Irmi said. “We need to see a little bit of correction in the market and for prices to go up, to cover our costs,” she continued.
Barry explained that 70 percent of the farm’s crops are sold in the Peace Country to larger grain companies. He said a portion of that is exported to the United-States. But with the looming tariff threats come a lot of incertitude.
“So much uncertainty in the world, so much global politics, so much rumors, countries, countervailing duties, tariffs. They all filter down to us at the lowest level of the person that’s growing it,” he said.
Barry mentioned the drought situation still hasn’t changed, as they have no reserve of water. “We have surface moisture to let the crop grow, but no subsoil moisture to allow for future water usage,” he said.
Barry is hoping for rain and snow after harvest to make it easier next year, but he’s still happy to finally have “an average crop this season.”