It’s been a tale of two growing seasons in southern Alberta. June saw some of the wettest conditions ever seen in the region, while July turned out to be hot with next to no moisture. “We actually had about 12 inches of rain, which is a very unusual for this area and actually was flooding some of the fields,” said Gary Stanford, a farmer from Magrath. “But we had a good July. There (was) some heat, got the crop growing good.” Plenty of rain and higher irrigation allocations helped protect farmers form the worst of the July heat wave. “It was an unprecedented July,” said Stephen Vandervalk, who farms outside Fort Macleod, which got no rain in July. “Talking to some of my dad and stuff, who’s in his 80s, he’s not sure that’s ever happened before. So that was unusual coming from a quite a wet spring.” The extreme heat dampened a bit of the early season optimism after a wet June. But the harvest should still be productive for most farmers, many of whom are anticipating above-average yields. “I’ve talked to a few other farmers and asked (them) what their crop yields look like. And it’ll be above average in this area,” Stanford said. Some in the region have already been able to get out and start harvesting some crops like barley. Recent rains will force those already harvesting to wait for their crops to dry out. It may not be the best time, but most farmers ill never say no to some extra moisture. “It’s not the best timing. Should have been two or three weeks ago. But we’re not going to say no to it,” Vandervalk said.
