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Network Promotes Better Farm Drainage Communication

Original Source: The Western Producer

Phone Credit: Karen Briere

The agriculture industry says Saskatchewan is behind other jurisdictions in terms of education about water management, and there is a need for “one big table” where everyone involved in water can discuss issues. 

Farmer-led initiative says producers, public need better information about how to handle too much or too little water

REGINA — A new collaboration in Saskatchewan is meant to improve communication about agricultural water.

The Saskatchewan Drainage Extension Network (SK DEN) is a partnership led by farmers and farm organizations who want water better managed.

“When it comes to drainage management and irrigation, I think we have a lot of leaders and experts across the province but not necessarily communicating all the time,” said Candace Mitschke, executive director of the Saskatchewan Farm Stewardship Association (SaskFSA).

The network will pull farmers, industry, researchers and regulators into the same room to identify challenges and solutions around the sometimes contentious issue.

She said one of those challenges is the variability across the province and even across individual farms in how water can be managed.

Mitschke pointed south of the border to organizations such as the Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition and other extension networks as examples of what SK DEN is trying to do.

“We’ve got a lot to learn and we’ve got a lot more research to do in our province to develop some drainage water management best management practices,” she said.

SaskFSA president Myles Thorpe said farmers need a place where they can find water management information. The University of Ohio has an entire program devoted to agricultural drainage, he said, but there is nothing like that in Saskatchewan.

The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan is a SK DEN member. Director Devon Walker said the province is behind other jurisdictions in terms of education about water management, and there is a need for “one big table” where everyone involved in water can discuss issues.

The network was formed in April, and Mitschke said a top priority is to develop an information hub as a single source of information for anything related to water management.

Another priority is soil health research.

“Obviously soil health is our anchor point or foundation of agriculture,” she said.

“So how does drainage management affect soil health, identifying soil health concerns and how we can use water management to improve that.”

A big focus is identifying best management practices and how more landowners and the general public can be educated about land improvement options, she said.

SK DEN also intends to identify research gaps concerning drainage management, soil health, field efficiency and fertilizer efficiency.

“As a landowner, drainage management is one of your most important business risk management tools,” Thorpe said.

“SaskFSA has identified that this is a real priority, that this information sharing and more research needs to be done locally in our province.”

Other SK DEN members include Crop Intelligence, Croptimistic Technology, Hebert Grain Ventures, Precision Drainage Solutions, the Saskatchewan Conservation and Development Association, Stone Farms and the University of Saskatchewan.

The WSA, the Saskatchewan agriculture ministry and Land Improvement Contractors of Ontario are strategic advisers.

Walker said SK DEN will act as a bridge between those who have too little water, too much water or water quality concerns and those who can help them.

Thorpe said good water management is an important tool for soil health and salinity issues.

“If you have good water management, it helps with weed control,” he said.

“Kochia grows in saline areas. You get rid of the saline areas, you have less glyphosate-resistant kochia issues.”

Less fertilizer can be used to grow the same amount of grain, making farms more efficient and with fewer soil compaction issues, Thorpe said. Farmers want crops to use the applied fertilizer and not have it sitting in a drowned-out crop.

“It is, without a doubt, the most important tool I have on my farm in the pothole region, where we’re typically wet even on a drier year like this year,” he said.

Walker said there will always be those who oppose or challenge agricultural practices, and he said that’s not always a bad thing. However, the human food component of production has to be considered.

“When we are managing certain types of impediments on our land, whether that’s contouring, landform design, vegetation, trees, water, we’re looking at how we produce more with less effort, with less waste, with less machine hours, with less people, and I think every farm and every region has its own little specific metric for that,” he said.

Walker said SK DEN should promote conversation about water rather than take a combative approach, adding that the public should understand why farmers need to move water.

Mitschke said other people also manage water using eavestroughs, septic systems, weeping tile and city storm sewer systems.

“It’s not about draining every acre of water that you have. It’s about managing it,” she said.

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