Lethbridge College to embark on four-year potato irrigation study
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LETHBRIDGE, AB – A nearly $400,000 grant from the Canadian Agricultural Partnership will allow researchers at Lethbridge College to embark upon a four-year study to determine how watering and irrigation practices affect various potato crops in the region.
Five producers with fields in Vauxhall, Chin, Bow Island and Taber will take part in the study. It will record how producers use their existing irrigation and available water sources and the outcome it has in different parts of their fields.
Dr. Willemijn Appels, Lethbridge College’s Mueller Applied Research Chair in Irrigation Science, says it’s a great inventory because they’re not simply assessing one particular field.
“We can actually say, ‘looking at this range of soil types and topographies, these are the main drivers or variations.’ We can then try to figure out what a producer can do with management and technology – where the sweet spot is they could use to increase their yield, increase their water used, efficiency, and eventually start looking at more expansion of irrigated areas.”
