Global Institute for Water Security

Agricultural Rebound Phenomenon: USask researchers warn of increased water demand on the South Saskatchewan River Basin

Agricultural Rebound Phenomenon: USask researchers warn of increased water demand on the South Saskatchewan River Basin

“Typically, modern irrigation can decrease demand, but we found that after some years demand may paradoxically increase,” said Mohammad Ghoreishi, first author of a paper, Peering into agricultural rebound phenomenon using a global sensitivity analysis approach, published in Elsevier’s Journal of Hydrology. “Due to modern irrigation, many farmers can switch to higher value crops and expand irrigation acreage to increase profits, which can increase agricultural water demand,” said Ghoreishi, a PhD candidate at the School of Environment and Sustainability (SENS) and a researcher at USask’s Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS).

These techniques are helping Prairie farmers grow crops despite drought

These techniques are helping Prairie farmers grow crops despite drought

Although drought is a natural part of the climate cycle in the Prairies, climate researchers are warning that droughts will become more common and more intense. "When we think about climate change, I think we can be expecting to experience more drought in the future," says James Famiglietti, a hydrologist with the University of Saskatchewan who has been studying global freshwater availability for over a decade. "[Drought] will become the new normal." But farmers have many tools to deal with this threat. From water reservoirs to drought-resistant crops, farmers the world over are practising various adaptation measures to remain viable.