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Vol. 11, No. 51, Tuesday, October 18, 2016 www.LamontLeader.com
Lamont County farmers could have huge losses due to fall snowfalls Sunshine called for this week, only 65% of crops off so far KERRY ANDERSON Producers in Lamont County may have been looking at a 20 percent loss on crop value after the first snowfall in early October, but now could be looking at a 50 percent loss after the Oct. 14 snow, says Lamont County Agricultural Fieldman Terry Eleniak. "I've been working at the county for 28 years, and I have never seen anything like this," Eleniak told the Lamont Leader on Friday. "I mean seven or eight years ago we were combining in November… but it was nothing like this." According to Humphrey Banack, vice-president of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture: “Farming across much of Alberta has been absolutely halted to zero because of last week’s snowfall." Only about 60 - 65 percent of the crop is harvested in Lamont County, notes Eleniak. Some farmers are taking the crop off wet and running it through driers. Banack added, “Another snowfall will take another week out of the time frame to get our crops in the bin.” That snowfall happened on Friday, when another 10 cm of snow fell onto the fields in Lamont County. "Right from the word go, we've been having trouble with this harvest. It's been a continual longterm bad harvest weather." Lamont County, Lamont County Ag. and much of Fieldman Alberta, has been Terry Eleniak plagued by a multitude of rains in Sept. and Oct., but now turning to snow as well. "The yields were looking average to above average," said the Ag. Fieldman. "The quality was good,
Lamont County farmers are hoping for some sunny weather in the next few weeks, as some 60-65 percent of crops are still in the fields. If the poor weather continues from fall to winter, area producers could be looking at losses of up to 50 percent.
but all of a sudden the quality has diminished. Farmers have just been waiting for the optical time to take the crops off, but have difficulty finding that time.
"We need two to three weeks of sunshine for producers to be able to finish taking the crops off. It's supposed to be warming up (this week), Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday is the last I heard.”