According to the Alberta Financial Services Corp., the soil in the province continues to dry up. This is one of the major problems Alberta is facing today. Here is a quick view of the latest reports on the region’s soil moisture levels:
- Peace River is at approximately 50%;
- Northwest Alberta at around 41%;
- Central Alberta at 32%;
- Northeastern Alberta at 22%, and;
- Southern Alberta at 11%
Harvesting in Alberta is also far from completion. The harvest for dry peas, spring wheat, oats, barley, and canola this year is almost finished. When compared with the statistics of the same time last year, relevant changes can be seen. In the ranking, the highest percentage of the harvest goes to the Southern region at 97%, followed by the Northeastern with approximately 90%, the Central at around 86%, Peace at 91.1%, and the Northwestern region at about 85%, respectively.
The average amount of crops to be harvested this year has been affected drastically by the soil drying up. When compared to last year, this year’s harvest is estimated to be 30.3% lower. This continuous decrease in soil moisture throughout the province is alarming and it is being observed for five years now. Even with the recent rainfalls happening around Peace, the soil quality is still far from excellent.