Alberta municipalities are sounding the alarm and calling for relief after weeks of rain. In Thorhild County a state of agricultural disaster has been declared. “We were hearing from producers that they’re struggling,” Reeve Trevor Defoe told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday. “The last council meeting we were at a position where it met the guidelines set out by Rural Municipalities of Alberta for proclaiming a state of disaster or agricultural disaster, so council decided to go ahead with that.” Defoe says farmers had a slow start to the spring because of a heavy snowpack over the winter, followed by rainstorm after rainstorm. “Many producers were not able to get their seeding completed because of the short windows that they had,” he said. “And the ground is saturated, right? So it’s now impacting the crops that did get seeded.” While the council has the power to declare a state of emergency, Defoe says that’s about as much as it can do. “Unfortunately, on the municipal side it’s just about raising awareness. We don’t have any power to provide access to any provincial or federal funding.” While some farmers may be able to recoup what they’ve lost through insurance or the Alberta government’s Hazard Assistance and Resilience Program (HARP), he hopes the declaration will draw the attention of the province and the feds. Since the snow melted, Dafoe says between 350 and 400 millimetres of rain have fallen in the county. The province says it is monitoring the situation. “We recognize the significant challenges excess moisture conditions have created for Alberta’s agricultural sector in affected regions. These storms have led to a loss of yield, delayed spraying, and made it difficult for producers to move livestock,” Callum Reid of the ministry of agriculture and irrigation said in an email to CTV News Edmonton. “Agriculture and irrigation continues to monitor the moisture and crop conditions for the growing season and regularly communicate with producers, agricultural organizations and commodity groups to get updates on latest concerns.” Thorhild County is about 100 kilometres north of Edmonton. East of Edmonton, Strathcona County has approved an amendment to its budget to move $16.2 million from its reserve fund to address flooding-related damage. Record-breaking rainfall in June caused substantial damage in the county, washing out roads and damaging bridges and culverts. “Damage assessments and recovery planning are ongoing, and the current $16.2 million is an early cost estimate which may be refined as the work progresses,” a county spokesperson wrote in an email to CTV News Edmonton. “Administration will continue to assess needs and update council accordingly.” The county has also applied for HARP to help offset the repair costs. If it doesn’t receive HARP funding, the county says it will have to reprioritize its capital plan or adjust its Local Government Fiscal Framework funding plan. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nahreman Issa
