Our farmers have been living with and adjusting to weather changes for as long as there was an Earth to live on. But, every three to five years, there comes a La Niña, which usually lasts one or two years. It usually means a colder winter in the west of Canada and a warmer, drier central North America. Temperatures in the western Pacific ocean are what triggers wild temperature swings in America. This La Niña is usually followed by an El Niño, which brings a hotter and drier than normal summer in the central U.S.
Our weather forecasters are predicting that 2026 will be one of those years. If it lasts two years like it did in history, then 2027 could be the same. So, what can the farmers do? Many of our farmers have been practicing reduced tillage or no-till for several years already. This practice helps conserve moisture in the soil by not exposing or drying it out with excessive expensive tillage. Global warming will have drastic effects on the most productive part of Pontiac County closest to the Ottawa river, which will become one of the hottest regions in Quebec, according to Quebec’s climate experts. Yes, I have experienced the La Niña followed by an El Niño effect several years ago. Remember 2012?
What about the nutritional quality of the crops that farmers in the affected area grow that year? Some of the sprays that farmers use every year come with advice about how rain or no rain just before and after spraying can affect efficiency of the spray. Farmers are even advised to take a heavy dew into consideration before spraying. Farmers also wonder about the amount of chemical residue left in the plants that were sprayed before a wet or during a dry period. The amount of chemical residue that remains in the crop (both grain and forage) can have a large effect on digestion and nutrient density that can be used by anything or one who consumes it.
South America is exactly opposite to our North American climate. In North America, we harvest our crops in late summer and fall. South America has just finished their harvest and Argentina and Brazil have recorded record grain harvests. This will relate to lower grain prices in the world. Some of our farmers are already changing their cropping plan in relation to those record South American crops. So, will that lower crop price be negated by a lower yield in the central U.S. caused by a La Niña, an El Niño, or climate change?
Climate fluctuation can also affect the density of predators (bears, racoons, wolves, coyotes, cougars, vultures, etc.) from year to year. I have seen several years when I did not see one black bear, but some years there were dozens on our farm alone. Feeding 100 bears for a month in the fall to fatten them up for winter can remove a lot of grain corn. That can affect a farmer’s cost of production for beef and for “x” several hundred farmers, it can increase the price of beef in the store.
A neighbour’s friend stopped their kids from playing in their yard because a cougar was seen walking through their yard. A few years ago, there was a drastic increase in the population of coyotes in several areas in our Ottawa Valley. We could hear them yelping at night, but when they began entering our barn and chasing young cattle until the animals broke down the pen and ran across the road, we began hunting them. The cat population in our town began to decrease, and some walkers noticed coyotes following them when they walked in the evening. While one neighbour was walking her dog, coyotes appeared quickly from the woods, grabbed the dog and ran off with the little dog in its mouth for supper. There was nothing that my neighbour could do but go home and cry about that untimely death of her pet.
With the help of several trappers, the coyote population was reduced. Many local beef producers let their momma cows enjoy the fresh air in outdoor yards sheltered by windbreaks designed by engineers. Those cows have their calves outside in those sheltered areas or in a calving barn. Sometimes a wolf or coyote will damage or kill a newborn calf before the farmer checks the herd. This year there is an increase in young lamb, goat, and calf death by coyotes coming into barns or yards, killing young animals, and carrying leftover carcasses away for their young to chew on. Sometimes when a calf is born out in a nice dry field, a vulture will pick the eyes out of that calf before it is strong enough to stand up. Wolves have been known to start eating an unborn calf before it is fully delivered. We have had a bear enter the milk cow barn in the night causing all the cows to gather at the opposite end of the barn until the bear left. Milk production that morning was not up to normal. Some of our municipal councils in the past have put bounties on some wild animals when they became too numerous. Maybe with today’s high food costs, it’s time to thin out the predators and chase them back to the woods.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations. gladcrest@gmail.com
