Dry conditions can have very negative impacts on agriculture industry. (submitted photo/Myles Quaroni)

By Ronald Quaroni

Parched Prairie

Cyclical weather trends could mean drought for years

May 24, 2019 | 12:38 PM

An extended dry weather trend in the prairies could be here to stay.

Agroclimate Specialist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Trevor Hadwen said typically wet and drought cycles last for long periods of time.

“The last three years have been extremely dry starting in 2017 and we’re continuing through that period,” Hadwen told paNOW. “We certainly do see a fluctuation from wet to dry cycles in the climate history sometimes on decadal [10-year] periods, sometimes a little longer.”

Hadwen said the current dry cycle length is tough to predict.

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“We certainly don’t know that until we get a little bit further into it,” Hadwen said.

Although less common, Hadwen explained in the province’s history we have had extended drought conditions that lasted 25 to 30 years.

If the cycle doesn’t shift, Hadwen expressed some worry about its effect on the agriculture economy.

“Once we get to get into those longer term droughts, we end up in a situation where we’re having difficulties feeding and watering our livestock,” Hadwen said. “Difficulty getting enough soil moisture in dry land farming and eventually it’s going to impact our irrigation areas as well.”

Prince Albert Agrologist George Lewko says despite the arid conditions, modern farmers are much better equipped to handle droughts.

“We’ve gone through droughts worse than [the] 1930s in the past and the technology with direct seeding and zero till really makes a big difference. It helps with evaporation, you keep what you got, the crops are seeded ideally, things can still come through,” Lewko said.

That modern technology, combined with herbicides and some timely rains mean the Parkland area doesn’t suffer too much in times of low moisture.

“Generally in our neck of the woods, we’ll generally get some rain and that’s enough to get a crop off. In the southwest where it gets really dry, they have a much more difficult time,” Lewko said.

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Ron.quaroni@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @RonaldQuaroni