Alta. opportunities more limited | The average price per acre in one Saskatchewan region was $1,169, compared to $3,879 in an Alberta county
Irrigated land in Alberta can cost up to $2,000 more per acre than irrigated land in Saskatchewan.
That raised a few eyebrows at a recent Irrigated Crop Production update in Lethbridge as Garth Weiterman of Saskatchewan Agriculture outlined irrigation development and potential.
Using figures from Farm Credit Canada, Weiterman said the average price per acre was $1,720 in the Macrorie irrigation district and $1,169 in the Luck Lake and Riverhurst regions.
In contrast, irrigated land in the Lethbridge region averages $5,951 per acre. To the east of Lethbridge in the County of 40 Mile and Municipal District of Taber, irrigated land averages $3,879 and $3,704 respectively.
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Weiterman said Saskatchewan is not actively promoting irrigated land but opportunities do exist.
“There are opportunities here and there are opportunities in Alberta as well but it might be slightly more economic, depending on what your own situation is,” he said. “There’s definitely interest. We’ve got European interest here, coming and going all the time. We’ve got Alberta producers that have taken advantage of some of the high prices out there and moved operations this way.”
Weiterman said infill of available acres where irrigation has already been developed holds the greatest immediate potential for farmers seeking more land.
Saskatchewan has potential to increase its irrigated acres by 500 percent to about 405,000 acres but that will depend on the status of various projects under consideration.
With 9.4 million cubic decametres of water storage in Lake Diefenbaker, Saskatchewan has long considered greater irrigation development. The lake is 225 kilometres long, with 800 km of shoreline.
Various projects are under consideration, among them the Upper Qu’Appelle Water Supply Project, which Weiterman said could have the most potential for irrigated farmland expansion.
That project could see a canal system carrying water from Lake Dief-enbaker to Buffalo Pound Lake, primarily to service expanding municipal needs for Regina and Moose Jaw, but with other spinoff benefits.
“The irrigation component we feel offers tremendous opportunities. But there’s no guarantee that anything’s going to be built,” said Weiterman.
Opportunities for expansion of irrigated farmland also exist in Alberta, said Ron McMullen of the Alberta Irrigation Projects Association. The number of irrigated acres has been gradually climbing by about one percent per year since 1976.
However, demands on water availability and the closure of several rivers to new permits limit expansion. More efficient irrigation systems have been the main driver behind districts’ ability to add irrigated acres to their totals in recent years.
There are about 120,000 unallocated acres available within Alberta’s 13 irrigation districts and some districts plan to phase in additional acres.
