New irrigation research helping Island farmers save their crops — and water

New research being spearheaded out of P.E.I. is helping Island farmers make better decisions around when to irrigate their crops — and some say it could not come at a better time. 

Researchers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada have been working on a formula to calculate when to irrigate and how much water to use. The result is a new, online irrigation calculator that's accessible to farmers.

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"The irrigation calculator is to help farmers to reduce the risk of over-irrigating and under-irrigating and to get that crop growing really well," said Yefang Jiang, a hydrologist who specializes in water management in agriculture.

"The soil moisture has to be in the right range. If it's too dry, then the soil moisture drops below the lower limit and the crop can suffer and then can lose yield and water and the quality.… The question faced on it will be how much water you have to irrigate it, and then when."

Jiang and his colleagues have been developing the formula since 2019, working with local farms through a Living Labs project.

It became available for farmers to use last year, but irrigation has not been front of mind for most as a wet summer stretches on.

The result is a formula that takes many factors into account, including the crop growth stage, the soil type, equipment efficiency and the forecast for rain over a week.

"All those numbers together, it can be quite overwhelming sometimes," Jiang said. "The calculator will help [farmers] put all these numbers together and calculate the right amount for irrigation."

'Trying to keep it alive'

Jiang said it will also save water from being dispensed on irrigation unnecessarily. The formula also calculates how much water is needed to get the crop through.

Smith Farms is one of the project's participants.

The farm has about 1,200 acres of potatoes and about 300 acres of wheat north of Charlottetown. They stretch up to New London Bay in the central region of the province, which is considered to be a dry zone.

"We've had scientists in our field and we've done different levels of irrigation and timing and whatnot," Andrew Smith said. "I think that's helped them getting their scenarios correct.

"Basically ... we're just trying to keep [the crop] alive until we get a rain in most cases."

The farm has been irrigating since about 1994, mainly off the Dunk River when necessary. 

Smith said most of what they do is supplemental irrigation to keep consistency for the crops. 

"We expect to get rained through the year. We just expect to have dry times, and when you get that one extreme to the other it can create problems," he said.

"It's just an insurance on your livelihood, really."

Irrigation with only as much water as necessary

Last year P.E.I. introduced a new irrigation strategy and permitting process for farms to apply to when they need to irrigate. It also ended the provinces' 20-year moratorium on high-capacity wells.

Though many farmers have not needed to irrigate since the new calculator launched, Smith said the tool will become invaluable to his operation when it crosses their minds again.

"There's no question that, moving forward, that'll be something that will help us because we don't want to irrigate if we don't have to, if it's moist or there's rain coming in a couple days or there's something we're not understanding," he said.

"The burn of fuel, electricity and manpower — that's not something anybody wants to do."

But irrigation could become increasingly necessary as the climate changes and farmers prepare for a future where droughts are more frequent — or become the norm.

It's actually on the forefront of everything you do, climate change.- Andrew Smith, Smith Farms

"We know our summers as a rule are getting hotter and they're getting drier," Smith said.

"It's actually on the forefront of everything you do, climate change. You're always wondering how is that gonna affect you and ultimately, it very much is."

Smith said with these new conditions, doing the right thing at the right time becomes essential.

"Especially [using] something like an irrigation calculator," he said.

"Everything's timing, right?"