With temperatures once again climbing in the Interlake region and drought conditions continuing, many farmers are becoming concerned.

According to the Government of Manitoba, over the past 12 months, most of agri-Manitoba observed moderately dry conditions with regions of severe dryness in the Interlake, central, and southwest regions.

James Bezan is the member of parliament for Selkirk-Interlake, and also farms in the region. He says the situation is dire.

"We're monitoring the situation very closely," he says. "We know in the past any rain that comes from here on in may save some pastureland, but it won't give us a hay crop, and it may be too late for the cash crops up there as well, and I'm worried about how it will impact on overall quality and the number of crops that we have out there."

Rural municipalities like St. Laurent and Coldwell have already declared local agricultural states of emergencies, with more areas in the region expected to follow suit. Bezan hopes all levels of government will keep a pulse on the situation as it progresses and notes dialouge at the federal level has already started.

"Already I've been in consultations with my colleagues in parliament, and the Conservative Party has already asked the Federal Minister of Agriculture, Marie-Claude Bibeau, to be prepared to have a disaster assistance program for the prairie region."

Provincially, Manitoba Agriculture Minister Blaine Pedersen met virtually with Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA), Keystone Agriculture Producers (KAP), Manitoba Beef Producers, and the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) to discuss the drought situation in the province. Pedersen explains some of the provincial initiatives.

"We've opened up all our non-leased crown lands and made them available for haying if at all possible. We've also reached out to other organizations that have hayland and pasture to make sure they're making it available. I should say, our emphasis is on the cowherd."

A recent report made by the Canadian Press states international scientists have concluded climate change is responsible for the recent heatwave that broke records across western Canada.

Pedersen says despite this, he doesn't anticipate significant droughts like this to occur more often.

"In terms of (a) historic (drought), you have to be old enough. I lived through the 1980 and '88 droughts, and to me, they were just as bad. In 1980 we had a 20 per cent interest rate thrown on top of it, and it made quite a difference. It really was hard then too," says Pedersen. "Mother Nature is cyclical anyway. We'll see droughts in the future."

The 1988 drought caused agricultural production in Manitoba to reduce to 60 per cent of the average, and there was also an $80 million dollar loss in hydropower exports.