Better soil structure, smarter rotations and reduced compaction can help dryland farms withstand increasingly unpredictable weather.
Flooding. Drought. Hail. Tornadoes.
As the weather in Western Canada becomes increasingly unpredictable, improving water-use efficiency has become one of the most effective ways for non-irrigated farmers to protect yields, build resilience, and reduce risk.
“Everybody’s priorities are a bit different,” says Steve Larocque, an agronomist who also operates a 300-acre grain farm in Three Hills. “If you’re farming in the black soil zone, for instance, drainage is probably your biggest issue. It’s not that you get excessive rain, it’s really about where it goes versus Swift Current, where you don’t want to divert it. You want to capture it as much as possible.”
There are several things growers can do to turn the tides in their favour. Larocque suggests, for instance, that increasing stubble height to between eight and 10 inches can conserve moisture by slowing evaporation, a boon to anyone grappling with drought. Adding drought-tolerant crops like barley, triticale and especially pulses into rotations can also help to compensate for heavy water users like canola.
“Canola produces the least yield for the greatest amount of water. This year, specifically, we found the driest fields were canola stubble, which makes a ton of sense. It’s just such a heavy water user,” Larocque says.
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