Latest news with #TrevorHadwen
Global News
15 hours ago
- Climate
- Global News
Drought fuels East Coast wildfires while also drying up farmers' crops and wells
An East Coast drought that's fuelling wildfires is also drying up farmers' fields, and has homeowners scrambling to refill empty wells. Nova Scotia, eastern Newfoundland, southeastern New Brunswick and portions of Prince Edward Island shifted into moderate to severe drought conditions over the past month, says an Agriculture Canada update released Tuesday. Rainfall has plummeted to roughly 60 per cent of normal levels in Halifax, with 270 millimetres falling from April to the end of July, compared to average levels of 460 mm for the same period, the federal agency says. In Newfoundland and Labrador, where wildfire smoke is swirling within sight of the capital St. John's, rainfall over the same period is down about one-third from normal levels. 'It looks to be one of the driest Augusts on record (to date) … preceded by one of the driest months of July to date,' Environment Canada forecaster Brian Proctor said in a recent interview. Story continues below advertisement Trevor Hadwen, a specialist with Agriculture Canada, said that while the drought conditions aren't unprecedented in the Atlantic region, 2025 has been an 'abnormally dry' year. 'The drought in some regions has come on strong and we're seeing some pretty severe impacts from the drought, such as water supply losses and shortages and drying up of surface water supplies,' he said Monday. Farmers in Nova Scotia are describing the water shortages as the most severe in recent memory. Jordan Eyamie, the manager of Webster Farms Ltd. in Cambridge, N.S., says she and her field staff are fatigued from 12-hour days spent hauling irrigation gear onto strawberry, raspberry, bean and rhubarb fields. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The beans aren't growing to normal size, while it's a struggle to keep the berries and rhubarb from withering, she said in a recent interview. Some wells are drained to the point where she wonders if they'll last through the summer. 'Our yields are certainly going to be down … and everyone is exhausted trying to keep the irrigation systems going due to the lack of rain, and it doesn't seem like there's any hope in sight.' Proctor said the forecast calls for only light precipitation in the region by Friday, adding, 'at this point it's probably best to anticipate continuing warm and dry conditions across Atlantic Canada.' Story continues below advertisement As of Tuesday morning, five of Newfoundland and Labrador's active wildfires were considered out of control, while two out-of-control fires were burning In New Brunswick. Both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have banned activities like hiking and fishing in forested areas. Josh Oulton, co-owner of TapRoot Farms in Windsor, N.S., said in a recent interview that water is being pumped from his wells to irrigate crops but the 'apples are suffering badly.' The beets and carrots he planted earlier in the summer aren't growing. 'Everything is just barely holding on. At the same time the prices from suppliers are going up … and we're slowly dying,' he said. As the hot, dry days continue, some rural residents are scrambling to ensure their wells are kept full. In Nova Scotia, about 42 per cent of residents are on private well water. Garth Higgins, owner of Water Unlimited — a water delivery firm in eastern Nova Scotia — said he's seeing the highest demand for his services since he began operating 19 years ago. The 54-year-old resident of Cooks Brook, N.S., recalls that there was a dry season late in the summer in 2016, but it wasn't as severe. When reached on Monday morning, he had a list of 33 deliveries booked and orders coming in every few minutes. 'There are people calling me daily, saying my well just ran out — it just ran out,' he said in an interview. 'It means no running water in the house. No baths, no showers, no flushing toilets.' Story continues below advertisement Higgins said the shortages are mostly happening in smaller communities, which aren't able to access the reservoirs serving cities. The Halifax Regional Municipality has voluntary water conservation measures in effect, but many smaller, rural towns in northern Nova Scotia and the Annapolis Valley have brought in mandatory limits as their reservoirs run low. Jennifer MacNeil, a spokeswoman for New Brunswick's Environment Department, said stream flows at sites in the northeast, southeast and along the Fundy Coast are at 'all time lows.' Groundwater levels at eastern and southeastern monitoring sites 'are well below normal.' 'With no significant precipitation in the near-term forecast, water resource conditions are expected to continue to gradually decline. A slow and steady rainfall over several days is needed to improve water levels,' said MacNeil. Gordon Check, a hydrogeologist with Nova Scotia's Environment Department, said in an interview Monday there is a cycle in groundwater, where levels rise in autumn and winter but drop in summer. However, he said that this summer the levels have fallen to their lowest annual point earlier than usual. 'Where last year the lows may have occurred more towards August and September, this year they're about a month earlier,' he said.
CTV News
a day ago
- Climate
- CTV News
What will it take to get the Maritimes out of drought conditions?
Cracks are shown in the dry ground of a hay field on a farm in Hamilton, Ont., Wednesday, June 7, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young July was an exceptionally dry month in the Maritimes. According to agroclimate specialist Trevor Hadwen, parts of both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have entered D2, or severe drought, with many other parts of the region ranging from abnormally dry to moderate drought. There are two more levels above severe drought including D3 (extreme drought) and D4 (exceptional drought). 'Last fall was drier than normal leaving a moisture deficit as we began the season, the last two months have been fairly dry for the region' said Hadwen, who works with Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada, the department of the federal government that monitors drought conditions in the country. 'Atlantic Canada does not have as much water supply or soil moisture storage as other regions in the country, so a short-term dryness does effect that region more than others.' Those impacts include wells going dry, low water levels in slews and wetlands, and lack of surface water for agriculture and domestic use. The Atlantic region is usually a very wet environment, with most of the Maritimes averaging well over 1,000 mm of rain in a year. In parts of the Prairies 300 mm of rain is typical some years, a number that would have an outsized impact for the Maritimes compared to the Prairies. What will it take to get the Maritimes out of drought conditions? While any rain will be welcome, Hadwen explains it will likely take multiple months of above-average precipitation to fully recover the water table in the region. Hadwen says Maritimers may need to be prepared for more droughts in the years and decades to come. 'We are seeing more frequent and more severe droughts right across the country. We've gone through a dry cycle within our climate regime, seeing droughts in areas we don't typically expect them,' he said. Adapting for the possibility of more drought is a complicated issue when it comes to agriculture. The variability in the Atlantic Canadian climate means the region is just as likely to have a very wet growing season as one defined by drought. That means switching to crops that do better in drier conditions is not an easy solution. Hadwen suggests finding ways to retain moisture from the wetter winter and spring months, as well as limiting water loss from soil could be helpful. Storing water could involve the development of more farm ponds for agriculture and more water reservoirs for municipal use. Ways to limit moisture loss from soil include:
CBC
6 days ago
- Climate
- CBC
N.S. crops withering in dry conditions, hitting farmers in the pocketbook
Allesondra Roddick usually has an abundance of produce that Nova Scotians like to serve at their tables: yellow beans, tomatoes, peppers, rhubarb, cucumbers and more. But this season, the Pictou County farmer says many of her crops are simply not producing anything at all due to the extremely dry conditions. The co-owner of My Grandfather's Farm in Westville, N.S., said the irrigation pond the farm normally relies on has barely more than a centimetre of water in it. By comparison, when it's full, she can swim in it, she said. They had also used a well to water their orchard about once a week since July 1, Roddick said. "But it dried up about two weeks ago. So really, lots of stuff hasn't had a drop of water in about a month now." That's costing her thousands of dollars in lost sales, she said, to the point her partner has had to take a job outside the farm to help sustain the family. And they're not alone. Many farmers in the province are struggling to deal with the lack of significant rainfall and its impact on their livelihood. Trevor Hadwen, a specialist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, says Nova Scotia is experiencing moderate drought conditions, with some pockets in the central region enduring severe drought conditions. The conditions are so dry that the province has put in place bans on open fires and hiking and the use of vehicles in woods out of concern for wildfires. Hadwen said Nova Scotia has seen droughts in the past, citing the summer months of 2023, 2020 and 2016, so he would not call this prolonged stretch of dry weather unprecedented. But he said it is still putting farmers in a difficult position. Alicia King, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, said while the organization doesn't have exact numbers on the losses farmers are incurring due to the conditions, she is very concerned about what she is hearing from them. "I think we're safe to say most of the farmers that are around the province today, this is probably one of the first times that they've experienced drought quite like we're seeing it today." Irrigation systems are the only thing keeping some farmers' crops alive, King said, but not everyone can rely on that since water sources are drying up. King said many farmers are losing money and she hopes people continue to support them as much as possible during this challenging time. "We always hear those words, like farmers are resilient, we can bounce back, we'll try it again next year, and all of those sayings," she said. "But those, those get hard on the heart, one might say, after a little bit."
CBC
19-05-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Farmers and meteorologists say record rainfall in southeast Sask. could help growing season
Farmers and weather observers in southeast Saskatchewan say last week's record-breaking rain could be a boon for this year's growing season. On May 15 and 16 a storm brought significant rainfall to the southeastern corner of the province, with some communities receiving over 100 millimetres of rain in 48 hours. "What we saw was a developing low pressure system that crossed through Montana and stalled out essentially right over the central portions of North Dakota," said Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Eric Dykes. "It moved all the moisture up from the southeast up through the United States's midwestern states, pushed it up into Manitoba, and retrograded back towards southeastern portions of Saskatchewan where it basically just kind of sat there over several days." According to the government of Canada weather service, Estevan received over 70 millimetres of rain, while Maryfield and Esterhazy, two communities close to the southeastern border with Manitoba, saw 59 millimetres and 47 millimetres. The service also reported that volunteer weather observers had reported close to 100 millimetres of rain in Kenosee Lake, and 108 millimetres in Radville, a community 100 kilometres northwest of Estevan. Moisture will help famers Trevor Hadwen, an agro-climate specialist from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, said that the added moisture from the rain will benefit farmers, especially those who have already seeded their crops. "We've seen drops in our soil moisture right across the province, leading to a little bit more concern than we did at the end of last month," he said on May 14. "But certainly still in the area of much more positive outlook than we've seen in the last number of years for the province." As of April 30, while not in official drought conditions, several areas along the southern edge of the province were classified as abnormally dry. The following two weeks saw very little rain, adding to the lack of moisture but also allowing some farmers to seed their crops before the rain began. "Areas that have been seeded already will benefit greatly from the precipitation that we've seen," said Hadwen. "Precipitation also slows down that seeding a little bit. So producers that still haven't got it out in the fields and had limited seeding done, mostly in the south or on the northeastern corner of the province, they're the furthest behind." "Areas down that southwest corner that are most advanced and seeding really want this moisture right now." Jason Leblanc, who grows mainly grains and oil seeds outside of Estevan and who got his seeding done early, said the rain couldn't have come at a better time. He said his farm received around 90 millimetres over the course of Thursday and Friday. "It was a perfect rain," he said. "We don't want any more of it. We of course want that again in about three weeks, but we can handle that kind of rain." " For the last four years we've been seeding a little bit earlier with the El Niño effect. And then this year, the prediction was we would seed a bit earlier and get some moisture. And that's exactly what happened." Saskatchewan's main growing season begins in late May and runs around 100 days until mid-September. "The last two years have been pretty dry for us. Even if we got the moisture, we were getting such long spells of sun or heat, it was just too hot. It would burn the flowers off," he said.
