Irrigation in Saskatchewan: a collaborative approach

While Saskatchewan is well known for its agriculture, it is not well known for irrigation, even compared to the other Prairie provinces. However, in west-central Saskatchewan, it is a big deal.

This is in large part due to the Canada-Saskatchewan Irrigation Diversification Centre in the town of Outlook, which markets itself as the “irrigation capital of Saskatchewan.”

Canada-Saskatchewan Irrigation Diversification Centre

The Canada-Saskatchewan Irrigation Diversification Centre (CSIDC) is a unique partnership between two levels of government (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture), academia (University of Saskatchewan) and industry partners (Irrigation Saskatchewan). It’s not just a funding relationship: CSIDC has their own governance structure through an executive management committee who set strategic goals and oversee research priority areas.

Each partner has their own contribution. For example, AAFC conducts research and owns and maintains property and equipment; Irrigation Saskatchewan contributes assets and focusses on applied research, demonstration and policy issues; the University of Saskatchewan undertakes research while the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture specializes in extension and owns some infrastructure.

The site was established in 1949 to assist farmers in transitioning to irrigated agriculture, and has kept much the same focus over time: research to improve the economic efficiency of crops grown under irrigation, value-adding to increase profitability and environmental sustainability to improve water and nutrient use efficiency.

Dr. Erin Karppinen is AAFC’s coordinating biologist.

“The work we do at CSIDC helps farmers who use irrigation improve their efficiency, which is good for their bottom lines and the environment. On top of that, we gain comparative cropping information for dryland farming as well.”

– Dr. Erin Karppinen, coordinating biologist

What grows under irrigation in Saskatchewan?

Compared to the vast swaths of irrigated corn, potatoes, sugar beets and other crops Alberta is famous for, Saskatchewan’s irrigated crop output is fairly small. As a comparison, Saskatchewan has approximately 431,000 acres developed for irrigation, whereas Alberta has more than 1.6 million acres. But this doesn’t mean it isn’t important.

The area around Outlook, in west central Saskatchewan, is home to a small but growing horticulture industry. Crops like root vegetables (sweet potato, carrots, rutabaga), melons and squash, greenhouse crops, herbs and spices are grown in this area – and most would not be commercially viable without irrigation. This helps diversify Saskatchewan’s agricultural output and provides local farmers alternatives to the field crops Saskatchewan is better known for. AAFC’s work in horticulture in Outlook has led to an extension of the growing season and more vigorous, higher yielding seed potatoes.

That said, field crops (canola, wheat, pulse crops like lentils) are also grown under irrigation. CSIDC also acts as a comparative test site for AAFC, who has had a long history of testing new varieties of crops and agronomic practices in a variety of soil zones. Here, in Outlook, they can also compare the outcomes under irrigation, which can lead breeders to develop varieties with a better capacity to deal with a changing environment – for example: can a particular forage variety withstand both extremely dry or wet conditions?

Improving irrigation technologies

No matter the crop type, researchers are there to find the most efficient ways to irrigate and to decrease the environmental footprint of irrigation.

From its roots in 1949, CSIDC has been focused on improving irrigation technology. Over the years, this has included the adoption of low-pressure sprinkler irrigation systems, solar powered irrigation systems and management of variable rate irrigation.

Evan Derdall, a research and development engineer specializing in agricultural water management, works on ways to improve water use efficiency. Variable rate irrigation (using precision agriculture to put the right amount of water in the right place) is key here, and Evan’s work helps create a “prescription” for the correct usage.

Some of the other key tools AAFC has developed include an online decision support tool for precision agriculture and an irrigation scheduling manual. “Giving producers near real-time decision-making data and the knowledge to utilize this information helps the irrigator consider all the variables and act accordingly,” says Derdall. “With these tools, we can eliminate some of the guess work and maximize the benefit from the irrigation while also minimizing runoff or other negative effects.”

With many forms of agriculture, runoff and leaching can lead to chemicals and nutrients entering the water system and have negative effects on the environment – for example, algal blooms in lakes and rivers. Evan works closely with other water-focussed scientists across the country to look for improved ways to remove these nutrients – for example through woodchip bioreactors.

CSIDC’s unique partnership model ensures that all research directions, technology transfer demonstrations and infrastructure decisions are well thought out and have buy-in from all players, ensuring a balanced approach to irrigation in Saskatchewan.

Top photo: Irrigation system

Thank you to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) for submitting the article and photos.

This article first appeared on the AAFC website.

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