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The Effects Of Drought On The Hay Industry

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The effects of drought on hay as an agricultural resource is a significant, yet overlooked, issue in Canada. Its effects need to be examined in order to mitigate damage done to the crops themselves, the agricultural sector, and the economy as a whole. This paper explores the causes, effects and potential solutions to reducing the effects of drought on hay in the future. This paper also covers the differences between American and Canadian agriculture, and the current drought that is affecting Ontario.
Causes
There are many possible causes of meteorological and hydrological droughts, which in turn have negative effects on the hay industry. A lack of moisture, either through a minimal amount of rainfall or a groundwater shortage, can stunt hay …show more content…

133). This is due to the fact that crops and their caretakers can better adapt to drought conditions over time. However, economic effects of drought occur in the subsequent years following the initial year of drought (Leister, Paarlberg & Lee, 2015, p. 281). Despite their chronological differences, drought poses a significant problem to the hay industry in terms of both environmental and economic effects. Poor quality forage, in addition to a reduced crop yield, is responsible for driving down cattle market prices, due to the fact that farmers are forced to reduce their herds because of high feed prices (Kemper et al., 2012). Changes in feed supply, in both quality and quantity, is shown to be the direct cause of drought-induced culling of livestock (Leister et al., 2015, p. 262). Farmers who do not grow their own hay to feed their livestock, and instead rely on purchasing hay from outside producers are especially vulnerable because they cannot control the price or quality of hay needed to feed their …show more content…

(2016) mentions that drought impact studies must be performed of other economic sectors in drougb-affected regions, such as public health and public water resources, in order to form an effective drought management plan for the future (p. 134). There is also a need for a long-term economic analysis of drought, because economic effects of drought do not occur in the first few years after the initiation of drought (Leister et al., 2015, p. 281). With further economic analyses of drought, it makes it possible to financially prepare for the effects of future droughts. There is a direct correlation between drought preparedness and whether or not the affected farmer has experienced negative drought effects from previous droughts (Coppock, 2011, p. 613). The ability to survive drought comes from careful planning and flexibility, some ow which only comes from previous experience (Wilmer et al., 2016, p. 220-221). A combination of warm temperatures and a plentiful water supple are necessary in order to combat the negative environmental effects of drought and restore crop production to its normal capacity (Kemper et al., 2012, p. 2). Further explorations into the future availability of groundwater supplies are also critical to maintaining proper soil moisture (Bonsal et al., 2010, p.

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