The Rural Municipality of St. Laurent has extended its state of local agriculture emergency for another 30 days as farmers continue to struggle with drought conditions.
The move allows the municipality to maintain communication with provincial and federal authorities and request support where needed.
Why the extension matters
Richard Chartrand, Reeve of St. Laurent, notes, "Even though we had a lot of rain, it's not going to be enough to alleviate the cutting for hay, for feed, for the animals."
The municipality first declared a local agriculture emergency roughly a month ago. That initial declaration allowed St. Laurent to pass a resolution to the provincial and federal governments, giving local officials the ability to request financial or other assistance for producers.
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Chartrand adds that the municipality has remained proactive in monitoring conditions and seeking help.
"We have met with Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn. We had a meeting in Ashern with 10 municipalities, and they provided us with updated information," he says.
The discussions focused on the current situation for farmers and ranchers in the Interlake region and on the resources available to them.
Farmers feeling the impact
According to Chartrand, local producers are still facing significant challenges.
"We have two councillors on our council that are livestock farmers, producers, and they say that they haven't had to truck in water yet as other municipalities have, but they're already buying bales for feed for the upcoming winter because usually in the Interlake region, we have what they called two cut seasons for hay and this year we've only been able to have one and we probably won't have a second," he mentions.
Residents and farmers around the area appreciate the municipality’s efforts, Chartrand continues.
"They're glad that our municipality, as well as the 10 other municipalities in the Interlake, have taken a proactive response to this, and they've reached out to the province, and we were very impressed," he adds.
Chartrand highlights that after sending a letter to the agriculture minister, a meeting was coordinated within a week to provide information on assistance programs.
He remarks that drought conditions like these are likely to become more common.
"It's happened before. It happened in 2021; 2021 was a more severe drought. It affected more than just the Interlake. I believe that this is something that will probably occur more often as climate change happens," he says.
As the region faces uncertainty with hay and feed supplies, the municipality plans to maintain its state of local agriculture emergency and keep collaborating with producers and other municipalities to navigate the challenges.
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