What irrigation has done for southern Alberta is simply amazing and a lot of the development is based on potatoes. While dryland crops require inputs that may total $200 or $300 per acre, potato growers typically spend about $1,500 an acre for inputs. That’s a big spinoff to input suppliers.
The longer potatoes can be stored, the more growers are paid. The on-farm climate-controlled storage facilities are massive and expensive. When properly stored, potatoes coming out of storage at the end of the season are nearly as good as when they went in.
To maintain quality and lessen disease pressure, potatoes are on at least a four-year rotation, so producers with irrigation pivots who don’t grow potatoes often benefit by renting their land for potato production.
Southern Alberta has developed the potato acres to attract huge investments. McCain, LambWeston and Cavendish have French Fry processing plants. Old Dutch, Pepsico and Shearer’s have potato chip processing plants.
Potato acres continue to increase in southern Alberta and so does irrigation development. New reservoirs are being built and infrastructure is being modernized. Saskatchewan’s irrigation expansion plans pale in comparison.
Of course, many other crops are also grown under irrigation including hybrid canola seed, sugar beets, onions and dill.
The vast majority of the country’s cattle feedlots are in southern Alberta. Irrigation is vital for the livestock feed required for feedlot alley and increasingly, potatoes are being incorporated into the crop rotation on land owned by the feedlots.
The price tag for an irrigated quarter section with a pivot and water rights in southern Alberta is in the range of $4 million. It’s a different world than the dryland agriculture that dominates the Prairie region and it doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves.
