This text is taken from Courrier de la planete. Click here to subscribe.
We absolutely need snow before the next big cold. Everyone agrees on that. Without this insulating coat, certain plants are very vulnerable to frost and cold, which greatly worries two agricultural experts.
It will take more than a little. “Everyone wants a nice broadside of 20 centimeters,” says agronomist Marie-Pier Landry. And not just for skiing or sliding with the children, but because many agricultural productions are at risk, explains this project manager at the Center for Agricultural Initiatives in the Coaticook region.
You don’t have to drive long in the Quebec countryside to see completely bare fields. Here, the plowing still peeks through a thin carpet of snow, an area barely dusted with flakes. There, we almost have the impression that the grasses will green up again in the middle of February as these plants are free of snow.
Professor Caroline Halde noticed this at the end of last week while driving between Montreal and Quebec, but not only that: the one who studies plants in field crops and perennial forage plants fears seeing large areas die.
With snow, “the ground does not freeze on its surface,” but without this insulating factor, patches of ice kill plants. “When the snow melts, water cannot infiltrate because of the already saturated soils,” explains the specialist from the Department of Plant Science at Laval University. The water therefore remains on the surface and when night — or the dreaded cold snap — comes, part of the plant remains caught in this deadly vice.
She cites in particular the fields of alfalfa, a fodder with good nutritional value which is also a legume which fixes nitrogen in the soil.
All perennial forage plants taken together cover 50% of the agricultural area, specifies M.me Halde. These crops are primarily used to feed animals, which could have an effect on the price of local meat, but can also concern humans, if we are talking about autumn wheat, rye or spelled. .
Plants that don’t die are at greater risk of lower yield and injury, making them “more prone to disease once the season starts,” she says.
Completely exposed fields
The lack of snow is indeed attributable to climate change, an upheaval coupled this year with a particularly strong El Niño phenomenon.
The extent of snow cover has decreased significantly since the early 1970s, observes Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).
“There is currently much less snow than usual in the majority of regions of Quebec,” confirms meteorologist Simon Legault. Several areas are barely a quarter of the normal thickness for this time of year.
It is entirely possible that several places will be completely discovered, he continues, checking the data for several stations. “There are definitely a lot of places where there are no significant readings” after last weekend’s record temperatures. Montreal and Montérégie simply no longer display anything in the ECCC observation stations.
This situation is due to the combination of mild temperatures for several weeks and the “extremely low” quantities of snow that fell this winter, said Mr. Legault. The two good broadsides at the very start of the season seem a long way away after a “Christmas on the lawn” and a slow but certain melting of the other snowfalls.
Mid-February generally marks the peak of the thickness of the white beds. “There may be a slight uptick between now and then, but after the end of February, the snow cover is usually in decline,” says the meteorologist.
It will also only be in the spring that agricultural producers will be able to see the damage. “The problem is also that it is cumulative before spring. So, each time there is an episode of melting and freezing, damage can be created,” observes Caroline Halde. Wind can even create more erosion. Cover crops to prevent these types of problems have gained ground in recent years, notably thanks to financial incentives from the government. But, for her, “it’s still not enough”.
Other repercussions
Soils exposed in this way without a cover crop could also suffer from harmful leaching of their nutrients. If it rains, for example, as in previous weeks, “the nitrates are washed away and end up in waterways and will affect their quality,” explains the professor.
An unexpected effect could rear its head: the lack of seeds to replant lost crops. Marie-Pier Landry remembers that in 2019, large areas of alfalfa died both in Quebec and Ontario. “It was super catastrophic, and since seed companies don’t keep stocks several years in advance,” the seeds ran out.
This winter, which promises to be difficult for perennial forage crops, also comes after a summer that was too rainy for them. In the Coaticook region, where this expert is located, several producers are already out of breath because of the heavy rains which have reduced the quality and yields of hay.
Another indirect, longer-term consequence is the loss of areas of forage plants, “which we often prefer from an environmental point of view,” she explains. Producers tend to change the livestock feed recipe when there is a killing frost in the forages by increasing the proportion of corn intended for them (silage). Once the proportion of corn increases, it is very rare “that there is a swing back,” she concludes.