Farms.com Home   News

'The saving grace for agriculture': Farmers look to irrigation amid climate woes

Sean Stanford's wheat farm just south of Lethbridge, Alta. falls within the far left corner of Palliser's Triangle — an expanse of prairie grassland encompassingmuch of southeast Alberta, a swath of southern Saskatchewan, and the southwest corner of Manitoba.

The area is named for explorer Capt. John Palliser, who in 1857, famously declared the entire region a wasteland — so hot and arid that no crops would ever grow.

More than 160 years later, with parts of the prairie provinces suffering through another summer of drought conditions, Stanford's farm is certainly dry.

"I think we've had three inches of rain since we started seeding. It's been pretty dismal, honestly," he said in an interview in July.

Click here to see more...

Trending Video

Debby Drenches Eastern Seaboard

Video: Debby Drenches Eastern Seaboard

What began as Hurricane Debby was downgraded to a Category 1 storm as it made landfall in Florida on Monday, delivering winds of 75 miles per hour. The weather system has taken seven lives since Monday.