Agriculture

The Agriculture Division and the Agricultural Service Board work hand in hand to deliver agricultural based programming for the municipal ratepayer. The Agricultural Service Board is the policy recommending body to Council, while the Agricultural Department is the implementation and enforcement arm of the operations.


Priorities of the Agriculture Division include training landowners to control weedsdiseases and insects, to prevent the establishment of new weeds, roadside vegetation management, and to prevent soil erosion.

 

State of Agricultural Disaster

Council declared a state of agricultural disaster in Brazeau County on July 20, 2021, due to excessively dry conditions.
Crop conditions in the Northwest region (Barrhead, Edmonton, Leduc, Drayton Valley, and Athabasca) are reported at 26.9% in good to excellent conditions, according to the July 13 Alberta Crop Report.  The five-year average for crops reported in good to excellent condition was 68.7%. Pasture growth conditions in the NW region are ranked at 52% in poor condition, 41.7% in fair condition, and 6.3% in good condition.
Further information on Provincial Agriculture disaster declarations is available at: https://agriculturalserviceboards.com/agriculture-disaster-declarations-2021/
 
The County will share any assistance programs that become available from the provincial or federal governments.
 

Dry Conditions Resources for Producers

Click here for information and tools to assist producers from the Alberta government.

 

Livestock Tax Deferral

Brazeau County has been designated as a prescribed drought/flood region eligible for livestock income deferrals for 2021. This designation is declared by the Minister of Finance, on the advice of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

The Livestock Tax Deferral provision allows farmers who sell part of their breeding herd due to drought or flooding in prescribed drought or flood regions to defer a portion of the sale proceeds to the following year. Additional information and map showing the prescribed regions is available here.