County of Stettler Declares Agricultural Disaster
- rairdanservices
- Aug 13, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 9, 2021
County of Stettler Press Release August 13, 2021 @ 2:27pm published at 2:51 pm

Council declares disaster to raise awareness with Provincial and Federal Governments
Lack of snow pack, run-off and rainfall combined with extended heat waves led County of Stettler Council to declare an Agricultural Disaster on Wednesday, August 11, 2021 at their Regular Council Meeting.
After reviewing the most recent moisture maps, the 2021 growing season appears to be the third worst year in the last 50 years for relative moisture conditions.
“Farmers are currently running combines on very short crops. We’re seeing crops that are too short for equipment to pick up,” said Larry Clarke, Reeve for the County of Stettler. “Farmers are going to be struggling to make something of their crops, and producers are going to be paying to find feed that is not going to be readily available. Surface water in some areas is in severe depletion, or in many cases bone dry,” he added.
Last Friday, August 6, 2021, the Alberta Government announced a relief program for livestock
and bee producers. Relief for other commodities has yet to be announced.
Discussions with producers throughout Stettler County have shown similar impacts of the dry
weather in all areas, with the situation being most dire in the southeast region of the County
and marginal improvement as you move to the northwest. Most producers reported an intent
to combine as the price of grains are holding, but those producers are expecting only limited
economic benefit due to reduced yields (25-40%).
Producers are reporting 20-40% yield of normal hay crop harvests. Pastures are dry and bare,
with producers now having to consider downsizing their herds.
Attached is data for our region, provided to the County of Stettler by the Agro-meteorology
Applications and Modelling Unit, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.
County Council made this declaration of Agricultural Disaster with the intent to encourage the
Provincial and Federal Government to initiate programming to assist our agricultural producers.
As of August 6, 2021, 22 municipalities had declared an Agricultural Disaster in the Province of Alberta.
For more information contact: Quinton Beaumont, Agricultural Services at 403-742-4441 or
email asb@stettlercounty.ca.
County of Stettler No. 6
Box 1270
6602 – 44 Avenue
Stettler, Alberta T0C 2L0
T:403.742.4441 F: 403.742.1277
www.stettlercounty.ca
Niki Thorsteinsson, Director of Communications
403-742-4441
Yvette Cassidy, Chief Administrative Officer
ycassidy@stettlercounty.ca
403-742-4441
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