Agriculture Canada

Nova Scotia farmers worried about water use amid dry spring

Nova Scotia farmers worried about water use amid dry spring

A Nova Scotia farming group is concerned about the amount of water being used for agriculture this spring, but a provincial hydrologist says underground water levels are normal for this time of year. The current conditions have prompted Agriculture Canada to classify much of Nova Scotia as "abnormally dry," and categorize Truro and part of the Annapolis Valley as having a moderate drought. "It's getting to a point now where things are really drying out," said Allan Melvin, a sixth-generation farmer from the Annapolis Valley and president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture.

‘Bone dry or soaking wet,’ water study faces extremes

‘Bone dry or soaking wet,’ water study faces extremes

Farmers learned a lot from the real-world whiplashing experiment you could call “Farming in 2021-22.” “Make sure your dugouts are deep enough,” said Ridgeville, Man., farmer Neil Claringbould, when asked what he learned from the brutal drought of 2021, as he showed other farmers and researchers one of his new water retention dams on a stream on his land. How about 2022? “We weren’t short of grass.”

Irrigation shows early promise for reducing nitrate pollution from farms

Irrigation shows early promise for reducing nitrate pollution from farms

Preliminary research on P.E.I. farms shows that irrigating potatoes helps the plants better use nitrogen in fertilizer, so it doesn't end up leaching into the environment. The research by the Living Lab Project — a partnership of Agriculture Canada, the East Prince Agri-Environment Association and the P.E.I. Department of Agriculture — is in its third year. Provincial soil and water conservation engineer Tobin Stetson said the early field trial results are replicating results from previous federal research farm testing.