The double whammy of drought and grasshoppers has the Rural Municipality of Armstrong declaring a State of Agricultural Emergency. The announcment last Friday comes less than a week after the neighbouring municipality of St. Laurent made a similar declaration.
The RM of Armstrong is requesting immediate support from Ottawa and the Manitoba government to help farmers with tax deferrals, freight assistance, compensation for additional wells being drilled, and to help deal with feed shortages.
It says the region has received less than 40% of the normal amount of rain so far this year – crop yields are poor, and dugouts and wells are dry or drying up. In a normal July, Manitoba receives about 79.5 mm of rainfall – to date, we’ve only seen 0.4 mm.
Manitoba Agriculture Minister Blaine Pedersen’s office says the department is closely monitoring conditions across the province, and is in talks with impacted groups to see how the province may be of additional assistance.
