Grainswest - Spring 2022

Spring 2022 Grains West 6 Waterworld WITH LAST YEAR’S PRAIRIE drought, Canadians have become in- creasingly aware of the need to conserve and make better use of the nation’s water. The risks of failure to do so are evident where the water supplies of our interna- tional trade partners teeter on the brink of disaster. The top-producing U.S. agricultural area, Southern California contends with a limited water supply and reliance on irrigation for farm production. Accord- ing to California’s Water Education Foundation, approximately 40 per cent of its annual water needs are met by groundwater, which has historically been overdrawn. In places, this has caused the land to subside and in turn damaged canals and aqueducts and caused wells to go dry. In 2021, California’s surface reservoirs shrunk to historic lows and emergency measures were introduced to limit water withdrawals from the canals and rivers that supply much of the state’s drinking and irrigation water. The organization’s website reports the transportation and use of water has created heated rivalry between users. “Water feuds historically have divided the state, pitting north against south, east against west and three major stake- holders (agricultural, urban and envi- ronmental) against one another. Intense disagreements persist over the manner in which California’s water resources are developed and managed.” Agriculture is one of multiple water stakeholders that rely on the state’s complex and sophisticated water management and infrastructure system. Water scarcity as it impacts the region’s farms has local and international implications. As availability determines what can and cannot be grown, the state of its water resources will affect the content of Canadian grocery aisles. On an even more alarming scale, Egypt, which is one of Canada’s biggest wheat customers, faces water scarcity in its agricultural heartland, the delta of the mighty Nile River. The situation threatens the food security of millions of Egyptians. Additionally, as Ethiopia constructs a massive dam upstream, the project has escalated regional political tensions and potential military conflict between the two nations looms. The GrainsWest water issue addresses the complexities of agricultural water use closer to home where multiple pro- jects are intended to strengthen policy and infrastructure. Topics include the substantial scientific work being done across the nation to collect and model water data (pg. 18). We also examine Alberta’s ongoing irrigation moderni- zation process (pg. 38) and a three-year Team Alberta Crops wetland monitoring project carried out with the co-operation of the federal Pest Management Regula- tory Agency (pg. 41). Water is not the sole topic to cause headaches in 2021. The availability of farm products hit by pandemic supply chain interruptions (pg. 22) continues to evolve. In these pages, we also give you stories about the case for cover cropping (pg. 32) and we meet a self-made, on- farm micro-maltster (pg. 26). Experts claim Canada has been slow in its development of water policy as a whole, but this is changing out of necessi- ty. Though too much water is sometimes a problem, lack of it will be a long-term preoccupation for Prairie farmers. EDITOR’S MESSAGE This past fall, Nevin Rosaasen of Alberta Pulse Growers collected wetland data that will contribute to a Team Alberta Crops water stewardship project. Photo: IanDoig