On March 22, the federal government announced it would develop such a strategy, calling it “an opportunity to discuss how we can address freshwater-related threats and opportunities,” protect freshwater ecosystems, and secure water for communities and the economy, according to a news release.

The Canada Water Agency, which was repurposed in 2024 as a stand-alone freshwater management agency separate from Environment and Climate Change Canada, will spearhead the strategy’s development.

While the announcement was scant on details of what such a strategy might look like, it said the agency will work with provinces and territories, First Nations, Inuit and Métis partners, “stakeholders across sectors” and the public.

Farmers should be among those consulted, the CFA said in a statement to Glacier FarmMedia.

“Water security is absolutely critical for the future of Canadian farmers. Farmers in different regions of Canada have been devastated by water issues over the past few years, such as the floods in B.C., or the ongoing long-term drought in the Prairie provinces,” a federation spokesperson said.

“A lack of water has severe negative impacts on any type of farm, no matter what they grow or raise.”

Prioritizing food security, agriculture

The strategy should protect farmers and mitigate the effects of water-related events. It should also secure predictable access to water so farmers can maintain food production — for example, through effective water management policies and investment in water infrastructure, CFA said.

“Farmers need to make it clear that food security and agriculture production should be prioritized if there was any issues with access to water.”

“Farmers are also on the front-line of climate change, dealing with the on-ground realities of water-related events,” CFA added. “They have experience and knowledge that will be critical in developing this strategy.”

While the announcement made no specific mention of the agriculture industry, the sector will have an opportunity to share its views during the public engagement process, “recognizing that freshwater is fundamental to our economy, powering industries, agriculture, and the growth of communities,” a federal spokesperson told Glacier FarmMedia.

The federal government has not yet set timelines for consultations, but said those will be announced “in the coming months.”

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Recovery is under way in the mid-north coast region of Australia’s most populous state after days of flooding cut off towns, swept away livestock and destroyed homes. At least 10,000 properties may have been damaged in the floods, which were sparked by days of incessant rain, authorities estimate.

About 32,000 residents remained isolated due to floodwaters, which were slowly starting to recede, the state’s Emergency Services posted on the X platform.

“The New South Wales government is providing emergency fodder, veterinary care, management advice and aerial support for isolated stock,” state Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said in a statement.

It said 43 helicopter drops and around 130 drops by other means had provided “isolated farmers with emergency fodder for their stranded livestock”.

At their peak, the floods isolated around 50,000 people, submerging intersections and street signs in mid-north coast towns and covering cars up to their windshields, after fast-rising waters burst river banks.

Five deaths have been linked to the floods, the latest a man in his 80s whose body was found at a flooded property about 50 km (30 miles) from Taree, one of the worst-hit towns, police said. Taree sits along the Manning River more than 300 km (190 miles) north of state capital Sydney.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday that conditions remained critical in flood-affected regions of New South Wales, as clean-up efforts began.

Australia has been hit with increasing extreme weather events that some experts say are the result of climate change. After droughts and devastating bushfires at the end of last decade, frequent floods have wreaked havoc since early 2021.

— Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney

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The two-year study looked at 31 different soybean varieties, including some bred to be flood tolerant or moderately flood tolerant, and more susceptible varieties. Researchers examined the effects of four days of partial submergence on soybeans in the R1 or early flowering stage.

“Flooding research has focused on the early reproductive stage simply because it is when the stress is most pronounced and causes the greatest yield loss,” said researcher Caio Vieira in a Feb. 3 news release.

The most flood-tolerant varieties lost about 33 per cent of yield after being flooded, while the most susceptible plants lost just over half of their yield potential. However, no significant impacts on seed protein or oil content were observed across the different varieties.

Viera said temperature changes in the U.S. have allowed earlier soybean planting, while shifting rain patterns have put additional stress on soy plants.

“We’re pretty much getting the potential for flooding throughout the season. It’s been tougher,” he said.

Arkansas farmers typically plant soy from early April to mid-Mary, putting the R1 stage in late June or early July.

“It can be hit or miss,” Vieira said. “You can get a year where that period is a full-on drought, or you can get a year where that typical R1 period is completely wet with intensive rains. It’s hard, hard to predict.”

Arkansas can also see the remnants of hurricanes roll through. This happened twice in September, the news release noted.

Vieira said the study will help his team identify and incorporate flood-tolerant characteristics into future soybean genetics.

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“We all like to be all stoic and everything, be the captain on the ship facing the storm head-on, but I’m the guy that will say, ‘Okay, this is pretty bad. I need some help here.’”

That year, heavy snowmelt and spring rain in Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan brought Lake Manitoba to a record level, made even higher by windstorms, and many living around the lake had to evacuate.

For producers like Nottveit, the flood’s effects didn’t recede with the water.

Lost opportunity

Nottveit owns and operates Tribar Ranching, on the Lake Manitoba peninsula, with 95 per cent of the operation on Crown land. They currently raise around 400 head of cow-calf pairs.

He remembers what it was like when he and his family had to leave during the 2011 flood, evacuating his cattle and wondering when he would be able to return.

• RELATED: Better flood protection on the way for Manitoba cattle producers

It was two years before they were able to move their cattle back to their water-logged ranch. During that time, Nottveit took a large financial hit, renting pasture, downsizing his herd to almost half its original size and trying to pump the water off his land.

“In the summer of 2011, I made hay on 14 different landowner’s properties, and we rented half a dozen pastures,” Nottveit says.

He hoped to rebuild his farm from the ruins of the flood quickly, but as things were improving, he was hit by more floods in 2014 and 2017. While these weren’t as bad as in 2011, they still had significant effects on his operation.

“It’s kind of like opening up the wound, and it just takes longer to heal that way,” he says.

“I felt that I lost 10 years of opportunity because I was working towards reclaiming the land and there’s all kinds of costs there, and frustrations that continued for 10 years.”

Now, nearly 14 years after the initial flood, Nottveit still feels the effects.

Before 2011, he ran around 700 head. It’s now around 400, and he says he wouldn’t want 700 again because he doesn’t think the land has recovered enough.

“I still think the grass is different. What is the effect of having lake water on soil for a year? It killed any bacteria or any organic growth in the soil.”

Now, some of his land seems to permanently have cattails, and the soil has lost productivity.

“My son was out in Alberta, working on farms and going to school, and he’d come back and put the garden in here and he tilled up the garden, and he said, ‘This soil smells like it’s just rotting’,” Nottveit says. “There’s no worms, there’s no bugs, there’s nothing. We couldn’t even grow a decent garden for years.”

• RELATED: Manitoba announces disaster flood assistance

Last summer they cut a hay meadow for the first time since before the flood, but the quality was poor and doesn’t show any signs of improving.

With the herd downsized and not much opportunity to expand to its original size, Nottveit sees prices now and can’t help but wonder about how things could have been.

“If I had 600 head this year, I don’t even like to think about it, but at $2,200 a calf, and I’m going to sell 400 calves? That really hurts, especially when you’re bringing on the next generation.”

Salinity and lostwindbreaks

Tom Teichroeb ranches near Portage la Prairie, Man. Like Nottveit, he was greatly affected by the 2011 and 2014 floods. He had to evacuate cattle and rent pasture, meaning he had to commute to his herd every day. He was also unable to make hay in 2011, 2012 and 2014.

“At that time of year, it’s very difficult to source feed, and especially in our area at the time, because everybody was impacted by the flood that was a cattle person. And so sourcing feed was really, really difficult,” he says.

The 2011 flood also happened while Teichroeb was calving, which made evacuating his cattle challenging.

Despite the hardship, Teichroeb recognizes his luck compared to so many others who were affected by the flood. Though he had to move cattle to rented pasture, his family didn’t have to leave their home. He was able to expand his herd after the initial years of devastation.

Still, that doesn’t mean he has been left unaffected by the floods.

“The salinity issues that we had and the alkylations that we had there were tremendous. So many of those areas, too, we couldn’t access for a long time,” Teichroeb says.

“We do rely on those natural windbreaks and stuff. So, yeah, certainly a tougher aspect to manage there.”

Government assistance

Through AgriRecovery, the federal government “works with provincial governments or territorial governments to assess the effects of disasters on agricultural producers and respond with joint initiatives where there is need for assistance beyond what is available through existing programs.”

But Nottveit says the assistance he received hasn’t covered his losses.

“A disaster in Canada, according to the government, lasts one year. And so back in the flood of 2011 there were five parts to the program… and I qualified for every one. I got compensated in every one of those parts. And I appealed every one of the settlements I got.”

Nottveit says he appreciated any assistance from the government following the flood, but feels government officials didn’t realize how long the effects last.

Teichroeb says there was flood assistance in 2011, but because he couldn’t make feed in 2012 or 2014, and the flood assistance was only for 2011, he also had to take advantage of crop insurance.

“As you claim from one year to the other year, your deductibles change and your ability to capture the full value of what you’ve lost probably was never really realized.”

Following the 2011 flood, the federal and Manitoba governments began negotiations on construction of a channel to prevent flooding by diverting water from Lake Manitoba to Lake Winnipeg. But the project was shelved in 2024, in part due to opposition from Indigenous communities who suggest a more sustainable alternative.

Nottveit says the possibility of Lake Manitoba flooding is still a concern.

“The lake level is huge for us. I can tell you what it is just by looking at it.”

But he’s optimistic, and is slowly stepping back from the work on the ranch as his sons start to take over. Though his children have experienced all the hard times with the floods, they still maintain their passion for agriculture.

Though there is a bright future for his ranch, Nottveit still reflects on the hardships of the flood. But he didn’t get through it alone — he had his wife, his family, his faith and the rest of the beef industry to help him.

“I mean, it’s called ‘Friendly Manitoba’ on the license plate. And that was certainly my experience.”

Teichroeb also remembers the hardship of the flood years, but like Nottveit, also the way his community and neighbours rallied around him despite the devastation they all were experiencing.

“We had a tremendous response from folks in our general area.”

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This weather system occurs all over the world. It starts when a large amount of water vapor from tropical oceans is carried by a jet stream toward land. As the air rises, it cools and condenses, resulting in rain or snow. They most commonly form in mid-latitude oceans, roughly 30 and 60 degrees north and south, according to NASA. They appear as a trail of wispy clouds that can stretch for hundreds of miles.

Atmospheric rivers can carry up to 15 times the volume of the Mississippi River, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Most atmospheric rivers are weak and do not cause damage. They can provide much-needed rain or snow.

Sometimes they do both. In drought-stricken California, such storms have triggered mudslides, toppled utility poles and blocked roadways, but also helped replenish depleted reservoirs and reduced the risk of wildfires by saturating the state’s parched vegetation.

In 2019, an atmospheric river nicknamed the “Pineapple Express” hit California. The water vapor from near Hawaii brought rain and triggered mudslides that forced motorists to swim for their lives and sent homes sliding downhill.

In 2021, an atmospheric river dumped a month’s worth of rain on British Columbia in two days, prompting deadly floods and landslides, devastating communities and severing access to Canada’s largest port.

According to scientists, atmospheric rivers of the kind that drenched California and flooded British Columbia in recent years will become larger—and possibly more destructive—because of climate change. There are projected to be 10 per cent fewer atmospheric rivers in the future, but they are expected to be 25 per cent wider and longer and carry more water, according to a 2018 research paper.

This could make managing water supply much harder as moderate atmospheric rivers, which can be beneficial for water supplies, will be less frequent, and strong ones could become more calamitous.

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The province’s Water Security Agency (WSA) said Friday its $1 million cost-share rebate program will expand its eligibility beyond RMs, conservation and development area (C+D) authorities and watershed associations to also include landowners and small urban (under 5,000 people) municipalities.

The program provides a 50 per cent rebate of eligible costs, up to a maximum $100,000 per application/applicant, for activities in the 2023-24 program year.

Eligible work can include removing silt, sediment, beaver dams and/or debris such as trees, brush and deadfall. The work is meant to reduce risk of blockages that can cause flooding on roadways and farmland, whether on approved drainage projects or natural watercourses.

Eligible projects can’t involve altering, replacing or repairing existing structures such as culverts or approaches. Other than sediment removal, projects also mustn’t involve new earthwork of any kind, such as digging new ditches or deepening, widening or otherwise reshaping a natural watercourse.

In clearing natural channels, volumes of water released “must not be so significant as to result in damage to downstream lands.” A project proponent also must have consent from owners of land next to the natural watercourse before starting the work.

Eligible applicants are also responsible for gathering “all necessary approvals, licences or authorizations required under municipal, provincial or federal legislation” and approvals from any affected landowners for access to a work site.

The application deadline for this program year is Jan. 31, 2024; the program will only cover eligible costs incurred between April 1, 2023 and Jan. 31, 2024.

“Preserving unobstructed waterways and proactively managing potential flooding and erosion concerns play a critical role in safeguarding the well-being of every individual residing in Saskatchewan,” Jeremy Cockrill, the provincial minister responsible for the WSA, said Friday in a release.

WSA said it also “streamlined” the rebate program this year by “eliminating unnecessary steps” in the application process. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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A cost-effective tool to reduce the effects of these regular floods may have been there all along. Together with collaborators in Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the University of Saskatchewan, Drs. Marcos Cordeiro and David Lobb of the University of Manitoba are leading a Canadian Beef Cattle Check-off-funded study looking at how forages influence water and nutrient flows. Some of their initial findings were published recently (Simulating the hydrological impacts of land use conversion from annual crop to perennial forage in the Canadian Prairies using the Cold Regions Hydrological Modelling platform; doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5917-2022).

What they did: This modelling study focused on part of the La Salle River basin west of Winnipeg, a tributary of the Red River. Nearly 90 per cent of this area is agricultural land, primarily seeded to wheat and canola in rotation with potatoes, carrots, soybeans and forage. Daily streamflow data and hourly weather data collected between 1990 and 2013 were obtained from an Environment and Climate Change Canada monitoring site near the study area’s downstream outlet. Annual cropping data was obtained from Manitoba’s crop insurance database for each parcel of land in the four sub-basins nearest the streamflow monitoring site. The growing seasons and growth patterns of different crops (e.g. plant height, water uptake, leaf area and evapotranspiration throughout the year) were considered, as well as their effect on soil structure. Relationships between cropping patterns and streamflow were adjusted for weather patterns and used to predict how changes from annual crops to perennial forages would affect streamflow.

What they learned: Even frozen soil can absorb moisture. How much additional moisture frozen soil can absorb in spring depends on how much moisture was in the soil to begin with, as well as how porous the soil is. Less disturbed soils, like those under zero- or minimum-till cropping, develop larger and deeper pores that absorb and retain more moisture during spring melt and runoff. But perennial forage stands have additional advantages over both zero-till and cultivated annual crops. The deep roots of many forage plants significantly improve soil structure and soil moisture absorption and retention. Forages also provide greater year-round vegetation cover and take up moisture (through the roots) and release moisture (from the leaves) for more of the growing season than annual crops.

Not surprisingly, perennial forage stands also trapped and retained more snow than annual crop residue. Despite this, less water ran off from land covered by perennial forages than from annual cropland every year. On average, 36 per cent less water ran off from forage land than from cropland. Peak daily discharges into the La Salle River were 30 per cent lower from land seeded to forage than from land seeded to annual crops. Overland flow was 53 per cent lower on forage land compared to annual cropland.

Research in Saskatchewan has shown that frozen soils covered with perennial forages can absorb water faster than snow melts, but cultivated soil generally doesn’t. In the Manitoba study, land used to grow perennial forage absorbed 66 per cent more moisture than annual cropland.

To simplify the model, the team did not account for either forage harvest or grazing. But either harvesting or summer grazing would remove nutrients from the land, leaving fewer nutrients on the surface for spring runoff to carry off. On the other hand, manure application or winter grazing (especially bale grazing) may add to the nutrient load. In any case, if there is less water leaving the land, it will reduce the amount of nutrients carried off in that runoff. Reduced nutrient losses benefit soil fertility, increase forage yields and reduce the amount of nutrients available to feed algal blooms in downstream water bodies such as Lake Winnipeg. Algal blooms are bad for tourism, water quality and fish, regardless of whether the nutrients come from upstream cities, cropland or livestock. Other studies in the same watershed have shown that converting annual crops to perennial forages would reduce sediment loads in runoff by 37 per cent, nitrogen by 58 per cent and phosphorus by 72 per cent.

What does this mean to you? Whether producers choose to seed forages or annual crops is largely determined by commodity values. But food service and retailers’ perceptions and government policies (e.g. cost-effectiveness of crop and forage insurance programs) and regulations can also influence markets and cropping choices. Solid, science-based information like this is important to support Canada’s beef and forage sectors’ ongoing efforts to share positive, factual messages about the environmental benefits of beef and forage production in Canada.

Bottom line: Forages can play a key role in moderating the water cycle and reducing flood risks. Grazing cattle have also been shown to reduce the risk of wildfires in B.C. and well-managed rangeland supports soil carbon sequestration across the country. Wetlands support migratory birds and grasslands support wildlife habitat. Cattle are a nature-based solution.

The Beef Cattle Research Council is funded by the Canadian Beef Cattle Check-Off. The BCRC partners with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, provincial beef industry groups and governments to advance research and technology transfer supporting the Canadian beef industry’s vision to be recognized as a preferred supplier of healthy, high-quality beef, cattle and genetics.

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That’s the assessment from Drew Lerner, president and senior agricultural meteorologist at World Weather Inc. at Overland Park, Kansas.

While the western half of the Canadian Prairies will remain in a drought, Lerner said that isn’t the case for the eastern half of the region. The outlook for that portion of the Prairies called for improved rains in the summer, he said.

“May has always stood out being an anomalously drier month and it’s verifying that very well,” Lerner said, adding he’s quite encouraged by the prospects for rain during the balance of the month.

As for large portions of Alberta and west-central Saskatchewan, the meteorologist noted he doesn’t see an end to drought anytime soon. “It’s going to take a while for it to go away.”

As for the U.S. northern Plains, significant portions of North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota were having a difficult time drying out this spring. He said excessive snowfall led to flooding in a number of areas — but not as bad as expected due to a lack of frost in the ground, which helped to absorb excess moisture.

“But they got rain over the weekend and they will get more rain coming up this week. So that will obviously further prolong the drying that is so badly needed,” Lerner said, estimating planting in the area should start during the third week of May.

The story for the southern Plains, which remains mired in a severe drought, could improve a little, he said.

“There’s going to be a wetter scenario playing out a little bit later this week,” as he forecast scattered showers and thunderstorms.

Lerner pointed to Oklahoma and Texas at likely to get the best rains. Meanwhile Kansas, Colorado and perhaps a part of Nebraska should see some precipitation in coming days.

— Glen Hallick reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

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By Friday, more than 13,000 people were under evacuation orders in Alberta. As of late Friday afternoon, 91 fires were considered active, of which 27 were deemed out of control and 18 classified as “being held.”

Among the worst-hit areas was the territory of the Little Red River Cree Nation, which comprises three communities in the north of the province, where the 1,458-hectare (3609-acre) Fox Lake fire consumed 20 homes and the police station.

The entire 7,000-strong population of Drayton Valley, 140 km west of Edmonton, was also ordered to evacuate late Thursday night, followed by Edson, a town of about 8,100 people about 140 km northwest of Drayton Valley, on Friday evening. Evacuations were also expanding in surrounding Brazeau and Yellowhead counties.

Parts of the counties of Strathcona, Leduc, Athabasca, Parkland and Grande Prairie were also under mandatory evacuation orders Friday evening, as were communities including Fox Lake, Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation and Entwistle.

Alberta has imposed a ban on open burning, including backyard fire pits, across the entire province. Recreational use of off-highway vehicles on public land, including designated OHV trails, is also now prohibited.

MORE READING: Farm checklist against fire

Pembina Pipeline Corp., which operates oil pipelines in the region, said it has activated emergency response and incident management processes and is “evaluating any current or anticipated operational impacts.”

There were no reported impacts on oil and gas producers, although the province said Friday that oil and gas facilities were among the evacuations Thursday night from a wildfire area southeast of Edson.

There have been 363 wildfires in Alberta so far this year and more than 43,000 hectares burned, the province reported Friday. At the same date in 2022, 175 fires had been reported with almost 414 hectares burned.

“This is significantly more wildfire activity for this time of year than we have seen any time in the recent past,” Christie Tucker, an information unit manager for Alberta Wildfire, told a press conference, adding fires were expected to intensify Friday.

“It’s going to get hotter, it’s going to get windier and we are expecting some extreme wildfire behaviour. Firefighters are at the ready today for what could be an extremely challenging day,” she said.

As of Friday evening in neighbouring Saskatchewan, 16 wildfires were considered active, with eight deemed “not contained,” out of 77 so far this year, almost double the five-year average. As of Friday morning, the province’s fire weather index, a risk gauge for potential fire intensity, mapped out most of agricultural Saskatchewan as “extreme.”

Its biggest active fire, at about 5,000 hectares as of Friday morning, is around First Nations communities near Jackfish Lake, about 40 km north of North Battleford in the province’s northwest.

In British Columbia, rivers burst their banks, washing through homes and forcing highway closures in numerous communities across the province’s interior, including Cache Creek and Grand Forks.

Until last week Western Canada had been enduring a cold spring but a rapid onset of unseasonably high temperatures, in places 10 to 15 C above the average for early May, is causing both fires and flooding.

With heavy rain in the forecast, the British Columbia government urged communities to be prepared for more flooding over the weekend.

“Warm temperatures in the Interior have accelerated snowmelt and caused increased pressure on rivers and creeks,” the provincial ministry of emergency management said in a statement.

“The situation is expected to worsen as rainfall and thundershowers are forecast for Friday, May 5, and Saturday, May 6, which increases the likelihood of flooding.”

— Reporting for Reuters by Nia Williams. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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The nine consecutive rainstorms that inundated California in succession since Dec. 26 killed at least 20 people while tens of thousands remained under evacuation orders as of Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom said in an executive order that reinforced the state’s response to storm damage.

“The last of the heavier rain in California is slowly fading. After midnight it shouldn’t be heavy anymore,” said meteorologist David Roth of the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.

Biden will travel to areas of the central coast on Thursday to meet first responders, visit affected towns, and “assess what additional federal support is needed,” the White House said.

The president had already issued an emergency declaration on Jan. 8 to free up federal aid and then on Saturday authorized disaster assistance for Merced, Sacramento and Santa Cruz counties.

The White House has yet to reveal the areas Biden will visit.

Among the more dramatic images of storm damage were those of Highway 1, the scenic coastal highway near Big Sur, which was closed at several points due to mudslides and falling boulders strewn across the road.

Water supplies still limited

While damaging, the storms also helped mitigate a historic drought, as much of the state has already received half or more its average annual rainfall.

But with more than two months to go in the rainy season, officials are urging Californians to continue conserving water. The U.S. Drought Monitor still shows almost the entire state under moderate or severe drought conditions. Reservoir levels were still below average for this time of year, officials said.

Moreover, the atmospheric rivers largely failed to reach the Colorado River basin, a critical source of southern California’s water.

“If you rely on the Colorado River basin as a part of your water supply, then there will be continuing drought problems due to the extreme drought in that part of the world,” Michael Anderson, California’s state climatologist, told reporters.

The Colorado’s two major reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, were at 28.5 and 22.6 per cent of capacity, respectively, and still below levels from this time a year ago according to Water-Data.com.

The ninth consecutive atmospheric river fizzled out on Monday, its remnants soaking the southernmost part of the state, Arizona and northern Mexico, Roth said.

The storms are akin to rivers in the sky that carry moisture from the Earth’s tropics to higher latitudes, dumping massive amounts of rain.

Another storm was coming that could bring moderate rain on Tuesday and Wednesday. The U.S. National Weather Service said it lacked the volume to be classified as an atmospheric river, while the state Department of Water Resources said it may briefly qualify as one.

California can otherwise expect dry conditions for the remainder of January, state officials said.

— Reporting for Reuters by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, Calif., and Rich McKay in Atlanta.

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