On Alberta's dryland farms, reflections on a devastating year and an eye to what's next

Just north of the town of Vulcan, Alta., snow is falling on Markert Seeds, a dryland operation that grows wheat, barley, canola, peas and flax.

The first snowfall of the year means fall work on the farm is done. The moisture comes as a welcome relief after the summer, which saw droughts devastate operations across southern Alberta.

Ron Markert, president of Markert Seeds, just took out his 50th crop on the operation. He's seen good years and bad years, and his experience has taught him how to prepare for the latter.

But like all dryland operations in southern Alberta, the challenges of the past year have hit hard.

"Looking at the numbers, roughly we had a third of a crop of what is an average crop," Markert said. "Some were worse, canola was probably worse than anything. But wheat, barley and peas were all down."

Alberta experienced scorching heat above 35 C for days this summer, setting record-breaking temperatures. A number of provincial municipalities declared agricultural disasters due to drought.

Farmers in southern Alberta saw a better harvest than expected in 2020. That made some cautiously optimistic after three previous years of drought-like conditions.

This year, crop insurance is important. But for less experienced farmers, even one challenging summer like this past one can lead to high levels of stress.

"The more [drought] you have, the worse it gets. It just drives you down further and further," Markert said.

Markert's son Lee, who is the operation's director of operations, said farmers his age across the province are now facing some difficult decisions.

"People in my generation are really coming into that time in their life when they've got kids to look after, and trying to get them through school and sports," he said.

"You throw it all together, and you've potentially got a stressful situation when the crop isn't there to support them."

Humphrey Banack is a grain farmer in central Alberta and a board member with the Alberta Federation of Agriculture. He said when weather doesn't cooperate, all dryland farmers can do is watch their crops wither.

"It really plays hard mentally on people, when you see this happening," Banack said. "There's your livelihood in the field, you've made your plans, and all of a sudden those plans are changing."