(Video screengrab from Alberta Agriculture and Forestry via YouTube)

Federal fund, Alberta government back irrigation upgrades

Infrastructure Bank lends cash for system improvements

Eight irrigation districts in Alberta are set to tap into the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s new $1.5 billion pool of funding earmarked for irrigation, to receive loans worth about $407.5 million. The Alberta and federal governments on Friday announced a total investment of $815 million — including repayable CIB funds, provincial support and irrigation district contributions […] Read more

File photo of Diefenbaker Lake in southern Saskatchewan. (IanChrisGraham/iStock/Getty Images)

Federal irrigation pledge seen flowing mainly to Prairies

Infrastructure plan also includes promised broadband support

Prairie provinces will receive the bulk of Ottawa’s $1.5 billion commitment to support irrigation projects, according to federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday launched a three-year, $10 billion infrastructure plan aimed at five different sectors, including agriculture. The $1.5 billion is expected to result in 700,000 acres of irrigated land. […] Read more


Armitage’s irrigation line doubles as an electrified fence during the fall and winter grazing season.

Electrified irrigation wheel line offers several benefits

“The electrified wheel line has been a big asset to make our haylands last longer...”

A rancher in southwestern Alberta has created an innovation that allows an irrigation wheel line to perform double duty. David Armitage, who ranches on his family’s operation at Mountain View, Alta., close to Waterton Lakes National Park, discovered that rather than continually move conventional electric fences to rotationally graze his hayland, he could work with […] Read more






rain bubbles

Blame it on the rain, not the beef industry

Research on the Record with Reynold Bergen

This summer has seen unusual rainfall patterns, low river levels and drought in large parts of Western Canada and the Western States. Some people blame water shortages on the beef industry and are ready to answer the question, “how much water does beef production use?” Unfortunately, these answers are often wrong, highly misleading and based […] Read more

Lethbridge Northern Irrigation District Dam and Headgates on Oldman River near Macleod, Alta.

History: The St. Mary and Milk Rivers Irrigation Development

Reprinted from the November 1949 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

History: The St. Mary and Milk Rivers Irrigation Development By P.M. Sauder, M.E.I.C., General Manager, Western Irrigation District, Strathmore, Alta. ‘The St. Mary River rises in the United States in Glacier National Park on the Eastern slope of the main range of the Rocky Mountains, flows North-easterly into Canada, joins the Old Man River near […] Read more