GrainsWest Fall 2018

Fall 2018 Grains West 22 FEATURE HEN IT COMES TO gambling with nature, irrigation may be a Prairie farmer’s ace in the hole. While competition for water resources between users is increasing, innovation in irrigation technology is providing new tools to help farmers stack the deck in their favour. In Alberta, roughly 1.7 million acres of cultivated land is irrigated, with nearly a third planted to cereal crops. Overall, irrigated agriculture represents less than five per cent of total acreage in crops and livestock but generates 19 per cent of agricultural sales. Efficiency is the name of the game. “One of the most interesting things in irrigation is the increases in conservation efficiency; and the gains realized by that,” said Margo Jarvis Redelback, ex- ecutive director of the Alberta Irrigation Projects Association (AIPA), which repre- sents Alberta’s 13 irrigation districts. “Between 2005 and 2015, the irriga- tion sector increased its conservation efficiency and productivity (CEP) score by about 48 per cent due largely to efficiency gains. That’s what will drive expansion in the districts,” she added. CEP plans are part of the Alberta government’s Water for Life strategy. The 10-year action plan sets out planning processes for water-using sectors, in- cluding irrigation. Most efficiency gains in irrigation have resulted from rehabilita- tion projects undertaken by the districts, including lining canals to curtail seepage and converting others to pipelines to reduce evaporation. On-farm irrigation conversions have also created efficiencies, she said. Grad- ually replacing high-pressure wheel-line and sprinkler equipment, low-pressure, drop-tube pivot-irrigation systems release water close to the crop surface, reducing evaporation and wind drift. Jarvis Redelback estimates these can take the industry to 80 per cent efficien- cy, but there’s room for improvement. Farmers are looking to additional tech- nologies to maximize efficiency, includ- ing drip irrigation systems. At its simplest, drip irrigation incorpo- rates the precision application of water using lines and emitters that deliver directly to the soil. The system requires supply lines and a pressure station that runs water to drip lines that are either buried in the field (sub-surface drip irri- gation) or laid over the field (surface drip irrigation) to deliver water to the crop. Unlike pivot systems that are limited to a circular watering pattern, drip irrigation systems allow complete field coverage. BY TAMARA LEIGH • PHOTO BY ROB OLSON Cereals projects a drip in the right direction IRRIGATION INNOVATION IRRIGATING BELOW THE SURFACE Lethbridge area farmer Ken Coles has partnered with Southern Irrigation—a drip-irrigation products and servicing company—to set up the largest sub-sur- face drip irrigation demonstration site in Alberta. In 2016, the company installed the system on Coles’ first field, a 110-acre irregularly shaped piece of land now planted with seed alfalfa. “The goal is to make it easy,” said Coles, who is general manager of Farming Smarter. With a young family and an off-farm career, Coles needed a less hands-on system. Its setup required a substantial field renovation. Permanent water supply lines, or header lines, were installed. These run water to drip lines trenched into the field to provide water from below. Drip lines, also called drip tape, are similar to hoses and feature water emitters at specific intervals. In Coles’ fields, the drip tape is buried 25 to 30 centimetres and 100 cm apart with emitters every 46 cm. A pump that maintains consistent water pressure and liquid fertilizer tanks feed into the system in a process known as fertigation. Field moisture sensors and a controller allow Coles to operate the setup from his home. “It’s like an underground sprinkler system with automatic controls set up in your house. I program it to turn on when I want it to,” explained Coles. In 2016, his drip irrigation project yielded 76 bushels per acre of canola, and he estimated he would have gotten just 45 to 50 with wheel lines. The result was so promising he installed another 18 acres the second year. The learning curve and cost of equip- ment and installation are potential bar- riers to drip irrigation, but for Coles, the benefits outweigh these factors. “With irregular-shaped fields, I was going to have to buy a quarter-section pivot, and only get 80 acres irrigated. That drove the decision,” he said. “You can put the drip tape everywhere. My coverage is always perfect. Windy or not, there’s no evaporation.” Benefits also include reducing disease risk by not wetting the W