Sask. producers say irrigation makes all the difference amid drought struggles

Grasshoppers jump in every direction as Steve Primrose walks through a patch of barley that has hardly grown. The stunted crop, which will likely be chewed down to nothing before the season ends, shows how severe the drought is in Saskatchewan's RM of Rudy No. 284. 

But just beyond that section of brown, barren land is a sea of green — a field of thriving barley.   

"Look at the difference water makes," said Primrose, who runs cattle operations and has crops on both dry and irrigated land in the RM. He's also the chair of the South Saskatchewan River Irrigation District in Outlook.

The RM declared an agricultural disaster last week — the province's latest community to put out a call for help as farmers grapple with an unforgiving dry spell.

"When we go through these droughts, and we've got crops out there with the grasshopper infestation, and no rain, we're getting zero off the dry land. Zero," Primrose said. 

The situation underscores the importance of irrigation, he said, as he pointed out more examples of the difference between dry and wet crops. 

He walked though sections of short withering canola crops into a sea of thick yellow plants growing as tall as his chin. Primrose pointed out corn that hasn't grown past his knees, compared to corn that towered above his head. 

The RM council noted in its press release that in severe drought conditions like this, the difference between irrigated land and non-irrigated land is the difference between a crop and no crop.

This year's drought isn't happening in isolation. It's happening during the driest consecutive years that Dennis Fuglerud has experienced during his 50 years working in the area. 

"This is the seventh year for us of below-average precipitation," said Fuglerud, who is the RM's reeve and a rancher. Fuglerud and his wife have a partnership with their son and daughter-in-law, running a livestock operation and growing some cereal crops for winter feed. 

He said that as drought conditions persist, it gets harder to grow feed because the moisture deficit in the soil worsens year after year. Dugouts dry up and crops don't grow. If something does grow, it's usually wiped out by grasshoppers.

However, he said they'll be able to feed their cows over winter because they're connected to two irrigation pivots. Other producers who aren't tapped into the system are facing tough questions about what's to come. 

"I hear a few guys talking like, 'What do we do if next year isn't any better? Maybe it's time to downsize the herd. Maybe it's time to sell,' " Fuglerud said. "If next spring is dry and we're in a drought again, then what? You might just be prolonging the agony." 

Primrose said the irrigation district is running a drop-straw initiative for cattle producers who aren't hooked up to water — putting them in touch with irrigators who have extra byproduct for feed.