At a special council meeting yesterday, a Local State of Emergency was declared for the RM of Excelsior No. 166.
The emergency was declared for the entire RM due to an existing agriculture disaster caused by severe drought conditions, an infestation of gophers, and an infestation of grasshoppers.
In a press release, Reeve Harv Schulz, elaborated on the cause of the local emergency.
“The continuing drought effects we have had along with the heat is resulting in crops not producing and burning,” he stated. “Pasture land is also experiencing devastation as they have not been able to recover from prior years of drought.”
Schulz added that a combination of the drought and the infestations is having an impact on any crop or pasture that there may have been this year.
“Farmers with grain crops are experiencing severe negative impacts due to the heat and the lack of moisture along with the infestation of gophers and grasshoppers,” he elaborated.
The RM is calling on different levels of government to provide disaster relief to farmers and ranchers experiencing drought as well as loss of crops and pastures related to gophers and gophers.
Schulz noted that several ranchers will not have sufficient feed for the winter and may be unable to supplement the difference due to increasing costs.
“Our farmers and ranchers are in need of financial assistance to get through this,” he stated. “We are insisting that both the provincial and federal governments come alongside and assist in this disaster.”