If you build it, they will come ... that's the hope as the Province announces a $4 Billion dollar Irrigation Project at Lake Diefenbaker.
Aaron Gray is Chair of the Saskatchewan Irrigation Projects Association and says there's a lot of excitement around the project and will it will mean.
"This is transformational is what Lyle Stewart said in his interview. This is transformational for Saskatchewan and for every resident in Saskatchewan both for water security, food security and industry security."
He says for farmers with access to irrigation it can mean the difference between having a crop and not having a crop in dry years.
"I seeded a little over half a section of land that had two irrigation pivots on it. We seeded that the whole thing to canola the same day corner to corner. Where there was dry land, where the irrigation water wouldn't reach. It didn't germinate till the 21st of June and a lot of it froze because it was too green. There was huge issues. So, we had basically zero versus 60 and we've had that more than one year."
Gray says this will help not only farmers with production, but it will attract more jobs to the province from construction, to value-added processing, transportation, and more helping to revitalize rural and urban Saskatchewan.
He says who knows in ten years, when this is complete, we may be talking about building more schools.
Larry Lee, Chair of the Macrorie Irrigation District says there's huge potential for what this expansion will mean, adding he sees water as the new oil of Saskatchewan.
Premier Scott Moe says the Lake Diefenbaker project will create opportunities, increase agricultural production, and help stimulate the economy.
"This project will fulfill the vision of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker to ensure the prosperity of Saskatchewan people. It will irrigate up to half a million acres of land from Lake Diefenbaker, more than doubling the irrigable land presently in Saskatchewan. Project construction is expected to occur over approximately the next 10 years, in three main phases, at a cost of about $4 billion."
Overall, the project is estimated to create 2,500 construction jobs a year, over the next ten years and result in a $40 to $80 billion increase in the Provincial GDP over the next 50 years.
The Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association is looking forward to the newly announced irrigation development saying the economic activity for the province is big in the building phase.
Even more important is the long-term growth in agriculture stemming from the future development.
The SCA sees this including more cattle production along with growth and diversification of crop production.
Arnold Balicki, Chair of the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association says as we grow food for people, there is so much that becomes feed for livestock either in byproducts, rotational crops, or crops that do not make grade.
The SCA sees this expansion of irrigation as a benefit to the opportunity and competitiveness of cattle production in Saskatchewan.
Lyle Stewart, the Legislative Secretary to the Minister Responsible for the Water Security Agency, will spearhead the project for the province.
He says the work includes two key projects that will occur in three phases.
"The West Side project is in excess of 340,000 acres of irrigation and the Qu'Appelle South project is in the neighborhood of 120,000. We have 370,000 total in the province now, so this puts us up around the 800 thousand mark or more."
He says the project opens the opportunity to create more jobs from agriculture, to transportation to value-added processing adding it all starts with the 2500 construction jobs this will create each year for the next ten years.
Stewart notes he's had discussions with value-added companies in the past that were interested in building in the province, but the lack of irrigation infrastructure was a key issue for them.
Work on Phase One of the newly announced Lake Diefenbaker Irrigation Project will begin this year.
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