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Irrigation

Your fearless columnist tosses the cell for electrical conductivity (EC) measurement into the Montreal River at Saskatchewan Highway 2 in July 2005. Results are recorded in a notebook and all is carried in a briefcase. I have notebooks like that all the way back to 1982. At this location, water EC is 260 uS/cm. In the north, water is mostly low EC; the standard for comparison is the South Saskatchewan River system that runs through Saskatoon, with an EC of about 450 uS/cm at 25 C.
Columns

Water chemistry: a Coles Notes version

Soils & Crops: Conductivity and hardness of water samples show what you can use it for

By
First of all: readers who have Henry’s Handbook of Soil and Water can check out pages 124-125 for a detailed discussion of water chemistry, complete with calculations. Water is considered to be the universal solvent because it is capable of dissolving more substances than any other liquid. Therefore, one of the first things we might […] Read more
Water lines are trenched in on the field to feed drip lines placed at the root level.
Features

Subsurface irrigation called way of the future

Early adopters in southern Alberta are using drip lines to run water directly to crop roots

By
Glacier FarmMedia — Subsurface drip irrigation is a relatively new system to the Prairies, but one of southern Alberta’s early adopters is confident it’s an effective way to grow crops with water efficiency rates second to none. Subsurface irrigation systems deliver water directly to roots using drip lines and is commonly designed to be spaced […] Read more
A centre-pivot system at work near Cowley, Alta., about 40 km east of Crowsnest Pass. Snowpack in mid-February was estimated at 50-75 per cent of normal at monitoring sites in southern Alberta's Rocky Mountains.
Columns, Crops, Weather

Managing irrigation with limited water

Some irrigation districts are advising users to brace for limits on available water

By
There is increasing concern with below-normal mountain snowpack and potential for limited irrigation water availability in 2024. Snowpack in mid-February was about 50 to 75 per cent of normal at most of the snow pillow monitoring sites in the Rocky Mountains of northern Montana and southern Alberta (visit the Alberta River Basins web page, then […] Read more
At Lethbridge just one year in the past 10 booked above-normal precipitation during its growing season.
Columns, Weather

A decade of dry

Let's review the variability of weather and soil moisture at Lethbridge

By
Weather is often the greatest factor that influences crop production across the Prairies — in particular, growing season precipitation and level of heat. The southern Prairies, particularly the regions of the Brown and Dark Brown soil zones, have the lowest growing-season precipitation, in the range of 150 to 200 mm (six to eight inches) and […] Read more
Twelve binders at work near Wilcox, Sask., in what's now the RM of Bratt's Lake, year unknown.
Columns, Crops, Spring Wheat

Where the wheat was

Let's track 85 years of hard red spring wheat yields in Saskatchewan, by RM

By
The folks at Saskatchewan’s ministry of agriculture have produced a digital dashboard that has a complete record of wheat yields for each rural municipality all the way back to 1938. It is an Excel file, 20.5 MB in size, which means a lot of numbers. It’s very easy to select any RM in the province […] Read more
Photo: Thinkstock
Crops, Fruit/Vegetables, Potatoes

Canadian potato output rises in 2023 

Alberta vaults to first place in provincial potato production

By
At 32.063 million hundredweight of potatoes this year, Alberta vaulted from third to first place as it improved on the previous year’s crop of 26.813 million. Manitoba moved into second spot from third with its harvest of 29.760 million cwt. following last year’s 26.139 million. Prince Edward Island saw its output reduced in 2023 to 25.813 million cwt. from 27.789 million. In 2023, the trio combined for 68 per cent of Canada’s total potato harvest of 128,801 million cwt. 
Bacterial leaf streak has an impact on late-stage crops but can appear in the three- to five-leaf stage.
Cereals Guide 2023, Cereals Production Guide

Irrigators warned to watch for bacterial outbreaks in cereals

Bacterial leaf streak is already an issue for Alberta and the U.S. Plains

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Saskatchewan irrigators can consider themselves warned: look out for bacterial leaf streak. Gursahib Singh, research director of the Irrigation Crop Diversification Corp. (ICDC), presented to 200 members of the irrigation industry at the Irrigation Saskatchewan conference on Dec. 5 in Saskatoon. Bacterial leaf streak is so far not a problem in Saskatchewan, but has been […] Read more
photo:
Columns

Prairie farm gardens

Growing vegetable and fruit crops in Canada: Part 1 of a series

By
Garden crops from beans to apples have been a passion of mine from my childhood in Wales. On our small 17-acre Welsh farm in southwest Wales, we grew or raised most of the vegetable food that we ate from potatoes to apples as well as milk, eggs, pork and chickens. The mild climate allowed us […] Read more
The Leguee Farms family members from left: Jake and Stephanie Leguee with their three children Asher, 8, Grayson, 5, and Tristan, 2; Russ and Sharon Leguee with Russ holding Bo, 2, (Amber and Erik’s son); Sarah Leguee ; and Erik and Amber Nikolejsin and their other two children Dax, 7, and Hazel, 4.
Features

A glimpse into bright, young farming operations

From potatoes to cranberries, eggs to pork, beef to veal and millions of seeds — this is what these farmers do

By
Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers will experience the hospitality of Quebec in late November as regional nominees and alumni gather in Laval for the national awards competition. Along with the seven OYF regional nominee farm families, about 200 alumni and guests from the program will attend the 43rd national awards event that runs Nov. 23-26. Nominees […] Read more
The McDougall Creek wildfire burns outside West Kelowna, B.C. on Aug. 18, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Chris Helgren)
Crops, Livestock, Weather

AgriRecovery feed, freight, breeding herd aid set for Alberta, Saskatchewan, B.C.

Feds, provinces announce combined $365 million in aid programs

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The federal and Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia governments are jointly putting up $365 million to support ranchers and farmers up against this summer’s drought and wildfire damage. The feds on Friday announced their 60 per cent, or $219 million, share of AgriRecovery program funding for the three westernmost provinces. “I’ve had the opportunity to […] Read more

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