Water is often the most crucial factor in controlling crop yields. The amount of water used by crops can be affected by several factors including the availability of stored soil water, amount of precipitation during the growing season, crop rooting depth and various environmental aspects such as day length, amount of solar radiation, humidity, temperature and wind.
These techniques are helping Prairie farmers grow crops despite drought
Although drought is a natural part of the climate cycle in the Prairies, climate researchers are warning that droughts will become more common and more intense. "When we think about climate change, I think we can be expecting to experience more drought in the future," says James Famiglietti, a hydrologist with the University of Saskatchewan who has been studying global freshwater availability for over a decade. "[Drought] will become the new normal." But farmers have many tools to deal with this threat. From water reservoirs to drought-resistant crops, farmers the world over are practising various adaptation measures to remain viable.