b"DECADES MAKINGin theThe Saskatchewan potato industry has the opportunity to expand after the government announced a $4-billion irrigation expansiondecades after it was initially planned. BY: ASHLEY ROBINSONFARMERS IN SASKATCHEWAN were beginning to believe it would never happen. At the start of July, the Saskatchewan government surprised them though and announced theyd finally be expanding the irrigation infrastructure at Lake Diefenbaker.Excitement quickly followed. The horticulture industry in Saskatchewan saw the expansion as an opportunity for them and breathed a sigh of relief after decades spent lobbying.Its been a long, long road. Just a lot of podium talk and no real action on the ground. So, its about time Saskatchewan has this, Matthew Lawless, president of the Saskatchewan Seed Potato Growers' Association (SSPGA), says in a phone interview.Outside of Saskatchewan, provincial counterparts shared a mix of excite-ment and disbelief. Like their Saskatchewan peers, they had spent decades waiting for the Prairie provinces potato industry to expand. I was quite surprised reallyIm surprised at the magnitude of the an-nouncement. That kind of blows me away, Kevin MacIsaac, general manager of the United Potato Growers of Canada, says in a phone interview.The $4 billion-decade long project will see Saskatchewans irrigation area expand by 500,000 acres in three stages. And while the project is just getting started, its been decades in the making.BUILDING LAKE DIEFENBAKERThe 1930s devastated Saskatchewan. The agricultural province found itself stuck in a drought, unable to grow anything, with dust blowing everywhere.As the province and country made its way out of the drought, the federal government looked into how it could prevent the devastation from happening again. The government came up with a solution and they developed a long-term assistance and drought alleviation agencythe Prairie Farm Rehabili-tation Administration (PFRA).PFRA projects sprouted up all across the Prairies, shelterbelts began to dot the landscape. In Saskatchewan, attention centred on the area around the South Saskatchewan River. During the 1940s and 1950s, the PFRA developed a proposal for water stor-age on the South Saskatchewan River. The project would irrigate an estimatedA flowering455,000 acres of land in central Saskatchewan by constructing a dam acrosspotato crop near Lake Diefenbaker with an the river near Outlook and just above the mouth of the Coteau Creek. irrigation boom in the From 1958 to 1968 the Gardiner and QuAppelle dams were constructed,background. PHOTO: SASKATCHEWAN creating the 200-kilometer long Lake Diefenbaker, named after John Diefen- SEED POTATO GROWERS bakerthe 13th prime minister of Canada and only prime minister to be fromASSOCIATIONSaskatchewan. In the 1970s work started on the west side irrigation project, but it was abandoned after a change in government.8 SPUDSMART.COM FALL 2020"