Saskatchewan’s irrigation industry is healthy.
So why was I feeling a little down after recently touring excellent crops and meeting with dynamic producers that are proud of their sector?
I was among 80 researchers, farm-e rs, economists, agronomists, bureaucrats and politicians who spent 13 hours getting on and off buses as we toured one of the three major Saskatchewan irrigation areas that surround Lake Diefenbaker on the South Saskatchewan River.
The Saskatchewan Irrigation Projects Association does a great job of looking after producers’ priorities, while the province’s water and agriculture staff should be proud of the industry support they receive.
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The federal research facility at Outlook works with the province, academia, farmers and industry, with an emphasis on agriculture extension. In my mind, it’s the way research should be done.
The irrigated region north of Jimmy Gardiner’s dam delivers far greater financial margin per farmed acre than any other in the province.
Investments in irrigation acre inputs and on-farm infrastructure as well as the labour requirements of vegetable and forage producers injects far more money into the local economy than is normally experienced in dryland farming communities.
So why so glum?
It was the unfinished business that got me.
Irrigation was identified as a priority in the 1930s and the focus was renewed in the 1950s.
Work finally began in the 1960s as forward looking producers and politicians took steps to control the major factor that limited Saskatchewan’s agricultural and financial yield: water.
One need only look to the benefits that irrigation has brought to southern Alberta.
Lake Diefenbaker was created to irrigate 500,000 acres but less than one-fifth received access to the water.
The construction of irrigation projects following the dam’s commissioning in 1969 delivered water to the Outlook region on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River.
On the west side, however, a channel was dug nearly to Conquest and work on a reservoir was started.
However, it had all stopped by 1973 and nearly 40 years later, the opportunity on the west side remains far from realized. It’s time to get back on the irrigation bus. Economics in Saskatchewan are better than ever.
If ever there was a time for public investment in large-scale agricultural infrastructure, it is now
