How technology is helping grain farmers adapt to weather woes
CBC
British Columbia grain farmer Malcolm Odermatt says all he can do is pray for rain this spring after repeated droughts sabotaged his harvest last year.
Odermatt, who is also the president of the B.C. Grain Growers Association, has been working with his father since 2012 to farm about 2,000 acres of land in the Peace region of B.C.'s northeast. He said seeding typically begins in May and although he's worried, he hasn't yet lost hope the weather will turn around.
"We're in a Class 5 drought, the highest classification you can get actually, and we've had low rainfall and not a lot of snow," said Odermatt, who grows wheat, barley, oats, canola and grasses for seed production.
"We rely on runoff in the springtime, like the snowmelt, to actually replenish our soil moisture and we just haven't had that for a couple of years."
Farmers in B.C. and industry analysts say dramatic swings in weather are hampering grain and other crop yields at a time when farmers are leaving the sector, and the only way forward is to adapt with technology.
Lenore Newman, director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, said many in Western Canada have an "Old MacDonald image" of farming that is no longer realistic or sustainable.
"It's a giant, technologically advanced industry and it needs to be treated as such … because the truth is Old MacDonald doesn't have a farm. He went broke in the '80s," she said.
"If farmers are going to beat constant climate disruptions to grow food, they're going to need all the technology available and a lot more that hasn't been invented yet."
Despite weather challenges, Kristjan Hebert managed to grow about 80 per cent of his average yields last season at his 40,000-acre grain and oilseed farm near Moosomin, Sask.
"Farmers have had to deal with volatile weather forever and we continually get better with it," he said, crediting technological advancements, including seed genetics, modern equipment and climate-risk management programs.
Hebert said crop insurance, both public and private, helps keep farmers afloat during poor yield years and allows them to invest in new technology and genetics.
But Newman said research and funding into such agricultural advancements should fall to the government.
"The one area of technology that doesn't have a national funding body for universities is agriculture," she said.
The federal Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement it is investing in research and initiatives to support the agricultural sector.