4 hours Ago By Stephen Tipper
Well over a century ago, irrigation began helping farmers grow crops in semi-arid southern Alberta. The irrigation industry is now a multibillion-dollar one, contributing $3.6 billion annually to Alberta’s GDP and representing about 20 per cent of the agri-food sector GDP despite using only 4.
7 per cent of the province’s cultivated land base, says the Alberta government. In recent years, hundreds of millions have been invested in Alberta’s irrigation systems. In 2020, the Alberta government, Canada Infrastructure Bank and eight irrigation districts announced an $815-million investment to modernize irrigation district infrastructure and increase water storage capacity in southern Alberta.
The following year, they announced another $117.7 million investment. “Irrigation is a transformative part of Alberta’s history, and we’re proudly building on that legacy by investing even more in the province’s farmers and food processors,” said former Alberta premier Jason Kenney in 2021.
“This historic investment will create good jobs and grow even more agricultural possibilities.” Each year, the province and irrigation districts make investments in the system through the Irrigation Rehabilitation Program. Under that program, which has been around since 1969, the Alberta government currently provides 75 per cent of the funding for projects, and irrigation districts the other 25 per cent.
In the province’s 2024 budget, $19 million was allocated to the program and 14 projects have “begun or progressed” in Alberta’s 11 irrigation districts since the funding was announced, the Alberta government said last month. “By increasing funding for irrigation infrastructure, we support Alberta’s economy and enhance resilience against droughts and dry conditions, ensuring a stable agricultural future. These investments are vital for both local and global food security,” said Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation Minister RJ Sigurdson in a Feb.
7 statement. The Lethbridge Northern Irrigation District is among the districts with projects currently underway under the program, with about six weeks remaining before it begins to supply irrigators with water in early May. Lethbridge Northern received provincial funding to replace 1.
6 kilometres of open channel canal with buried pipeline, and that Fort Macleod-area project, with an estimated cost of $819,000, is almost done. Its bigger project is also underway near Coalhurst, a town just outside Lethbridge and about 165 kilometres southeast of Calgary. That $7.
5-million project involves building 12 kilometres of buried pipeline, and replaces a former concrete-lined canal that failed and had been patched with an exposed fabric liner to “nurse it through for another 15 years,” said Lethbridge Northern general manager Christopher Gallagher earlier this week..
