This storm went right through the heart of one of the usually big volume areas of Alberta . And it was the second night in that area for bad ones. Wont tell you who or how much but we wont be marketing much grain ourselves this year, worst storm since 86 on our farm.
CARSTAIRS, Alta. — The malt barley crop at the Reid family farm barely reaches above the ankle, a dramatic change from the lush, waist-high growth this same field boasted just days earlier.
“There’s nothing to harvest,” said Bob Reid of the devastation wrought on parts of the farm Sunday night by a fierce storm that unleashed g****- to walnut-sized hail in the Carstairs area, and went on to pummel crops across central and southern Alberta.
Carstairs is about 60 kilometres north of Calgary.
The storm carved such a path of destruction that officials with the Alberta Financial Services Corp., the province’s crop and hail insurance provider, anticipate they’ll receive more than 1,000 hail claims — more than five times the number typically arising from a bad storm — based on the volume of calls coming into the office so far this week.
Underscoring the storm’s severity on the Reid farm was a badly damaged grain bin, sent spinning by the wind, and left resting on its side in the flattened barley field.
The bin, which left a debris field as far as the eye could see, belongs to a neighbour, whose property is more than a kilometre away.
“This was a nice, 90-bushel-an-acre crop,” said Reid at the farm he and other family members operate.
Of the 360 hectares of barley seeded by the family, 280 have been lost to the storm, he said. More than half of their 200 canola hectares are gone, as well.
Other fields in the area have been similarly ruined by hail, trees have been split in half or knocked down, and a thick layer of leaves and branches lines the roads.
Homes with siding are riddled with huge holes.
Such is the case at the home of Hendrik Schipper and Piep Nieuwenhuis, where the hail stripped the bark from their trees. A plastic garden table out back has fist-sized holes in it, and their canola crop is decimated.
Schipper, who was more concerned about the welfare of his badly injured trees, took the damage in stride.
“In this world, there are worse things,” he said.
Doug Dueck, regional manager for the southern region of Alberta Financial Services Corp., said as of late Tuesday, approximately 800 to 900 claims had been logged by district staff in his area alone, which runs from Airdrie, just north of Calgary, to Lethbridge, about 250 kilometres to the south.
As farmers have three days to report their hail claims, the full extent of the damage won’t be known until Wednesday or Thursday, he said.
The hailstorm is just the latest blow for farmers this year, after a cold spring delayed crop maturity. Many areas in east-central Alberta were then hit by drought, resulting in a below-average crop in many areas.
In early July, the insurer said it was then facing a potential payout that could rival the $800 million paid to farmers in the 2002 drought year, due to the disastrous growing conditions.
Calgary Herald
CARSTAIRS, Alta. — The malt barley crop at the Reid family farm barely reaches above the ankle, a dramatic change from the lush, waist-high growth this same field boasted just days earlier.
“There’s nothing to harvest,” said Bob Reid of the devastation wrought on parts of the farm Sunday night by a fierce storm that unleashed g****- to walnut-sized hail in the Carstairs area, and went on to pummel crops across central and southern Alberta.
Carstairs is about 60 kilometres north of Calgary.
The storm carved such a path of destruction that officials with the Alberta Financial Services Corp., the province’s crop and hail insurance provider, anticipate they’ll receive more than 1,000 hail claims — more than five times the number typically arising from a bad storm — based on the volume of calls coming into the office so far this week.
Underscoring the storm’s severity on the Reid farm was a badly damaged grain bin, sent spinning by the wind, and left resting on its side in the flattened barley field.
The bin, which left a debris field as far as the eye could see, belongs to a neighbour, whose property is more than a kilometre away.
“This was a nice, 90-bushel-an-acre crop,” said Reid at the farm he and other family members operate.
Of the 360 hectares of barley seeded by the family, 280 have been lost to the storm, he said. More than half of their 200 canola hectares are gone, as well.
Other fields in the area have been similarly ruined by hail, trees have been split in half or knocked down, and a thick layer of leaves and branches lines the roads.
Homes with siding are riddled with huge holes.
Such is the case at the home of Hendrik Schipper and Piep Nieuwenhuis, where the hail stripped the bark from their trees. A plastic garden table out back has fist-sized holes in it, and their canola crop is decimated.
Schipper, who was more concerned about the welfare of his badly injured trees, took the damage in stride.
“In this world, there are worse things,” he said.
Doug Dueck, regional manager for the southern region of Alberta Financial Services Corp., said as of late Tuesday, approximately 800 to 900 claims had been logged by district staff in his area alone, which runs from Airdrie, just north of Calgary, to Lethbridge, about 250 kilometres to the south.
As farmers have three days to report their hail claims, the full extent of the damage won’t be known until Wednesday or Thursday, he said.
The hailstorm is just the latest blow for farmers this year, after a cold spring delayed crop maturity. Many areas in east-central Alberta were then hit by drought, resulting in a below-average crop in many areas.
In early July, the insurer said it was then facing a potential payout that could rival the $800 million paid to farmers in the 2002 drought year, due to the disastrous growing conditions.
Calgary Herald
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