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By Jaryn Vecchio

Looking Ahead

Farmers expecting multiple challenges in 2023

Dec 29, 2022 | 1:34 PM

To say some farmers in the province are apprehensive about 2023 would be an understatement.

After a year of significant price increases on gas and food, there’s reason to believe it’s only going to get worse next year.

The main reasons appear to be the war in Ukraine, the annual carbon tax increase, and the continual rise of interest rates.

Kerry Peterson, a Shellbrook area farmer, told farmnewsNOW it’s hard to be optimistic with all these challenges.

“They’re going to be huge for farms and all Canadians, so 2023… I’m very apprehensive.”

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Bob Reid, who farms in the Smeaton area, believes the biggest challenge will be a reduction in fertilizer.

They replace the nutrients that crops would normally remove from the soil after they’ve been harvested. Without it, crops could potentially die.

“My oats, I’m getting 130 to 140 bushels per acre,” said Reid. “Right across the road, with no fertilizer, if they got 20 bushels, they’d be lucky.”

Reid thinks it’s possible a fertilizer reduction could result in a 75 per cent drop in crops across the country. However, Fertilizer Canada believes farmers can overcome this challenge if everyone follows through with the 4R best management practices: right source, right rate, right time, and right place.

Meanwhile, Reid said if all the aforementioned challenges come to fruition, those who live paycheck to paycheck will be the ones hardest hit.

“I’ve been doing this since Moses was a boy, but you take a guy who just got a mortgage… it’s going to be a challenge, there are no two ways about it.”

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow