Latest news with #SeanStanford
CTV News
10-07-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Southern Alberta farmers feeling hopeful after recent rains
The outlook for southern Alberta crops is promising after a series of recent rains. LETHBRIDGE - About three weeks ago much of southern Alberta was hit with one of its biggest rainfalls in years, with some areas of southwestern Alberta receiving as much as five inches of rain. All that moisture has many feeling optimistic. 'The crops were dead standing there,' said Stephen Vandervalk, who farms near Fort Macleod. 'They were out of moisture. I don't know if it would even combine if it wasn't for that rain here. And that I think it was three weeks ago,' Promising data Close to 61 percent of crops in southern Alberta are in good to excellent condition. About 80 percent of the soil moisture is rated fair or higher. After years of dry conditions, the big rainfall came as a welcome change. 'Things have really turned around in the last few weeks, I would say since we did get some moisture,' said Sean Stanford, a farmer from Magrath. 'The crops were kind of dry. Things were kind of hurting a little bit. 'Some of the earlier seeded stuff still suffered from lack of moisture, but anything that was seeded a little bit later, or normal time, they look really good,' Stanford added. Lethbridge crops, June 10, 2025 Farmers say crops will need a bit more rain to help make sure the harvest is a good one. (Quinn Keenan, CTV News) Cautious optimism Moisture conditions may have improved but farmers aren't celebrating just yet. Crops will still need more rain to make sure the harvest is a good one. 'A half inch would be kind of minimum but an inch, two inches would for sure do it,' said Vandervalk. 'But an inch would be good,' he added. 'Getting an inch this time of year, it's usually thunderstorms and that's spotty,' Outlook Rain will likely be harder to come by for the rest of summer. Forecasts show the Lethbridge region can expect dryer and warmer conditions for the rest of summer. Sporadic rains could help to break up the heat. 'What we do see in our models for the month of August is a generally drier note for southern Alberta,' said Environment and Climate Change Canada scientist, Christy Climenhaga. 'That doesn't mean that it is going to be dry every day,' she added. 'But our monthly totals, we are picking up that drier-than-normal trend, which could mean some lower levels of precipitation for the rest of the month taking you to the end of summer,'
CTV News
17-06-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Southern Alberta grasshopper population size dampened by rain
Farmers in southern Alberta are hopeful that rainfall has helped put a damper on grasshopper population sizes this year. A group of grasshoppers has the ability to wipe out a field of crops if they're not taken care of. While grasshopper outbreaks can be spotty, farmers know all too well the damage they can cause. 'Grasshoppers, they can totally decimate a crop. They can eat it almost right to the ground. So, it seems like if there's a few, there's a lot. And when there's a lot, they can do a lot of damage. Unless you get control of them right away,' said Sean Stanford, a farmer from Magrath, Alta. Grasshoppers flourish in hot and dry conditions like southern Alberta has seen this spring. But what rain the region has seen could help to keep the population down. 'They started hatching in mid-May, so it's a little bit early, and then they were clipped off by rain, and then they started hatching again and clipped off by that second good rain,' said Dan Johnson, a grasshopper expert and professor at the University of Lethbridge. 'A lot of places around southern Alberta had nine or 10 millimetres on about June 12 or so, so that wiped out a number of them.' Timely rain has kept the population at an average size. Any additional rain at this point won't stop more from hatching but can keep grasshopper numbers down. 'They're mostly in the older stages now, and they could probably take the rain, but when it rains, it's cool and they don't grow. They just wait it out. And the longer they wait it out … the lower survival they have,' said Johnson. While the population may not be significantly larger than last year. Farmers will still have to be on their toes. They'll do everything from spraying pesticides when there's an outbreak to more preventative measures. 'It seems like they overwinter in the ditches and the tall grass and things like that's where they get their eggs laid. So, if you can somehow keep your ditch grass shorter, that seems to be a help, because they seem to move in from the outsides of the field towards the middle,' said Stanford. The 2024 provincial grasshopper survey notes egg-laying conditions were ideal last fall. That means there's still a chance for large outbreaks to occur.
