Photo by Curtis Galbraith.

By Curtis Galbraith

Agriculture

Moisture levels, rising input costs challenges for farmers

Feb 6, 2022 | 6:00 AM

Sexsmith farmer and Alberta Wheat Commission chair Greg Sears says how farms are doing after the 2021 drought varies by different regions and how farms are set up.

He says there are some challenges currently with moisture levels.

“We’ve got lots of snow around the Grande Prairie area but there are lots of places in southern Alberta that don’t have much at all.”

“Certainly, we don’t have much for sub-soil moisture, so we are going to need good, regular rains coming up to get back to an average crop,” Sears added.

As for inputs, Sears says farmers will be looking for lower-cost alternatives and if some are even needed.

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“I think there’s going to be a lot more shopping around and trying to take advantage of any lower prices that you can find on inputs.”

“It’s not proving to be really easy to find anything that hasn’t gone up by 30, 40 or 50 per cent since last year,” Sears explained.

The cost of other inputs has nearly doubled.

“As long as your sales prices stay good, you can handle those higher input costs.”

“But, if you have another crop wreck and if the prices for the wheat and canola and such even got close to average again, we would really be struggling to pencil in a profit,” adds Sears.