Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta producers and irrigation districts are making great strides toward conserving water, with both grants and individual investment producing tangible water and energy savings. Those efforts produced overall water savings of 170 million to 200 million cubic metres in Alberta’s 13 irrigation districts from 1999 to 2012, said Rod Bennett, director of Alberta Agriculture and […] Read more
Irrigation investments, programs playing a big part in water conservation
A soon-to-be-published study estimates 170 million to 200 million cubic metres were saved from 1999 to 2012
Record gift boosts irrigation program at Lethbridge College
Gift of $3.1 million from the estate of Lloyd and Dorothy Mueller to fund irrigation program and research chair
Reading Time: 2 minutes Agricultural programming at Lethbridge College will benefit from a record-setting $3.1-million gift from a family whose Alberta roots go back to the province’s earliest days. The gift from the estate of Lloyd and Dorothy Mueller will be supplemented with $1.9 million from the college to establish the Mueller Program in Irrigation and the Mueller Applied […] Read more
Don’t cut corners on irrigation savings
Reducing water pressure when the corner arm isn’t needed can cut energy costs by 30 per cent or more
Reading Time: 2 minutes Producers with corner arm centre pivot irrigation systems can reduce their energy consumption by 30 to 40 per cent if a variable frequency drive (VFD) is added to the motor used to power the water pump, according to an Agricultural Technology Centre study. “Corner arms on centre pivots swing out to water corners and are […] Read more
Water management beats precision fertilizing on irrigated land
Higher organic matter gives crops a big nitrogen boost and so it’s better to focus on water management, study finds
Reading Time: 3 minutes It seems fertilizer prescriptions matched to the needs of various areas of a field doesn’t give much of a return under irrigation. That’s the conclusion of an Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development study of responses to applying fertilizer according to the needs of the field’s soil zones. The project included dryland and irrigated fields with […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
