Good afternoon, members of the committee.
I will briefly present on controlled tile drainage and research conducted by Agriculture Canada with producers such as Mr. Laflèche and the South Nation watershed. I completed my master's degree on this in 2009 at the University of Ottawa.
Despite climate change projections, producers must manage water on their farms efficiently and effectively. We want to provide farmers with the means to manage water in their fields in the context of maximizing crop production.
In Ontario, about 1.6 million hectares of agricultural land are tile trained. But tile drainage often drains water from fields during periods when producers want to conserve that water for crop use.
There are times to control water losses and times when we want to let it go. To do so, control structures can be installed at the tile outlets to manage water flow, making water available for plant use. Excess water from the field can still be drained by overflow in the structure.
I passed around a few papers. If we take a look at the first slide on the second page, we see the control structures. What we have noticed is that by installing these structures on the outlet tile, we reduced the tile flow by 60% and increased water storage in the field by 15%. By doing so, crops benefit from water and nutrients conservation. Yields increased from 10% to 30% in the short term, and in the long term from 3% to 8%. This practice also provides benefits to the environment, as nutrient runoff is reduced by about 60% and bacteria by 75%.
Studies on satellite imagery indicate as well that crop growth benefits from controlled tile drainage increase when seasonal precipitation is low.
Given all the economic and environmental benefits, why is controlled tile drainage not practised as it could be?
Well, we asked the question to the producers who have been participating in this practice. They are happy with the agronomic benefits derived from water retention and reducing nutrient loss, and they are also proud to reduce the impact on the environment. But deterrents to the practice include increased farm labour, increased cost to farming operations, and the lack of support.
At the beginning of our project in 2005, only one producer was interested in participating in this research. Today hundreds of hectares in the South Nation River basin are now under control tile drainage, managed largely as a result of our research. Thank you to the producers who agreed to participate.
Thank you.