Lethbridge College and the Potato Growers of Alberta are teaming up to determine how watering and irrigation methods affect local crops.
The four-year research project is being made possible thanks to a nearly $400,000 grant from the Canadian Agricultural Partnership.
The college’s Mueller Applied Research Chair in Irrigation Science, Dr. Willemijn Appels, says the research team will record how producers use their existing irrigation and available water sources and the outcome it has on crops in different parts of their fields.
She says the findings will help determine what a producer can do with technology and management to increase their yield.
Watering practices of two producers near Vauxhall, as well as farms near Bow Island, Chin and Taber, are being monitored for the project.