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This Sunday

National Farmers Union president to talk climate change at Red Deer event

Feb 20, 2020 | 2:42 PM

The National Farmers Union (NFU) is gathering in Red Deer for an event dedicated to discussing agriculture and climate change.

The event takes place Sunday night at the Snell Auditorium in the Red Deer Public Library starting at 6:30 p.m.

NFU President Katie Ward will be speaking on a recent NFU report called “Tackling the Farm Crisis and the Climate Crisis.”

Glenn Norman, NFU member and event organizer, says climate change has been affecting the agriculture sector long before the report was released.

“We’ve been having weather events that we’ve never had before. We’re asking ‘when are getting our precipitation.’”

The report details a 6.4 degree Celsius increase along the Rocky Mountains.

Norman says consequences are almost catastrophic.

“There virtually won’t be any moisture staying on the ground. When it does rain, it will evaporate almost as quickly as it comes down. The fact is the stress on crops will increase enormously from drought.”

But Norman continues to remain positive when it comes to saving the agriculture sector.

“It’s not at all doom and gloom, I believe agriculture is much a solution as it is a problem, and has been sighted by other research. We have the potential to really reduce our footprint, and at the same time increase profits.”

Sunday’s event is free to attend. You can find out more by visiting the NFU Facebook page and nfu.ca