It's arguably the topic which is most discussed here in Canada, especially if you are a farmer on the prairies.

Weather has a huge impact on the lives and livelihood of local farmers, and it was discussed at the Power Your Profits event last Tuesday, November 14, put on by the Alberta Canola Producers Commission.

Provincial Oilseed Specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry Murray Hartman presented his findings on 110 Years of Weather in Central Alberta.

He says the results from his research surprises most people.

“The length of our growing season, so from the last killing spring frost to the first fall frost, has increased by one month, over 110 years. That makes us much more capable of growing different types of crops as well as varieties that are higher yielding but are late in maturing, so a really big impact.”

Hartman says according to his data, the change in growing season has been a gradual.

“Whatever is happening, if it was climate change due to global warming, that would only be the last half of this record, but no it’s throughout the entire thing. In fact, if you look at some of the data on extremes, highest temperatures, most 30 degree days in a summer, all of those happened in the first 30-40 years of our record.”

The data was gathered from the Lacombe Research Station, located just south of Lacombe by the C & E Trail exit on to Highway 2A, which was built in 1907.

 

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