Prairie famers hope for normal season after volatile few years
April 18, 2023
In 2021, farmers were thrown a big curveball in the form of the severe drought that withered crops across Western Canada. A family plants their wheat crop with a seeding rig, near Cremona, Alta., Friday, May 6, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
In 2021, farmers were thrown a big one in the form of the severe drought that withered crops across Western Canada, including Third-generation farmer Greg Sears, who is more than ready for a crop year without any curve balls in it
by Amanda Stephenson – The Canadian Press
Then last year — even as the war in Ukraine drove grain and oilseed prices to record highs — inflationary pressures led to dramatic spikes in the cost of everything from fertilizer to fuel to tractor tires, leading some in the industry to dub 2022 as the most expensive crop year in history.
“Roller coaster ride, is a good way to describe it,” said Sears, of the volatility that has affected Canadian agriculture in the last 24 months. “I’m kind of hoping (2023) will be, for what it amounts to, a normal year.”
Sears made the comments in a recent interview from his farm, where the weather has only recently changed to what he describes as “spring-ish” conditions.
“We haven’t really had good solid rains to build up the subsoil moisture again, and we didn’t get the big snows that we typically get”
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