Farmers, ranchers worry about coming season amid drought, high pasture insurance payouts
CBC
At Jolene Noble's family cattle farm near Manning, Alta., in the northwest Peace River region, there's virtually no snow on the ground — something she said she has never seen before.Ranchland No. 66, Albert
It comes after a hot summer where she didn't see substantial rain until late July. Any moisture that added to the soil is now long gone.
Without more snow, Noble said there won't be enough surface water runoff to refill the dugouts on their pasture.
"Everybody's nervous," she said.
"For spring and summer, the water for the cows, right now, it's not there."
Nobel is among the many Alberta farmers and ranchers bracing for what could be another grueling year of dry conditions, as the cost of the 2023 drought mount.
Drought can leave cattle farmers scrambling to find a way to feed their animals. They may face a choice between shouldering the cost of buying and transporting large amounts of feed, or selling off cattle to reduce their herd size — which also affects their bottom line.
Near Nanton, Alta., in southern Alberta, Bob Lowe said there's finally some snow cover where he runs a cow-calf operation — but not enough. There's very little snowpack on the mountains, too.
"The old saying is 'Plan for a drought and hope for the best,' right? But if you do that every year for a few years in the real world, pretty soon you don't have a herd anymore," Lowe said.
Moisture deficiency insurance (MDI) — coverage for livestock producers in case their soil is too dry to grow feed or let their herd graze — hit a record-high $326.5 million in total payouts in the 2023 growing season.
Last season's payouts more than tripled those made after the 2021 province-wide drought, according to the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC), which administers government cost-shared loans and crop insurance for Alberta farmers.
MDI, sometimes also called pasture insurance, makes up a fraction of overall crop insurance coverage. The sum of all crop insurance claims for 2023 still isn't finalized, but 2022 saw $1.25 billion in payouts. In 2021, payouts reached $2.75 billion.
AFSC manager of insurance products and innovation Jesse Cole said there are a few reasons for the bigger MDI numbers in 2023, including some recent adjustments to how the program works and an uptick in people taking the coverage after the last major drought.
The deadline for getting MDI for the coming growing season is Feb. 29. Cole said there could likely be another increase in enrolment.
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