Winston Churchill Fellowship to Canada – water management, farming practices, and research programmes

As Policy Manager for the Waitaki Irrigators Collective, I have been fortunate to have been made a 2014 Churchill Fellow and was awarded a travel grant from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.

 

I am using my travel grant to journey to Canada, to spend some time in most of the country’s provinces, learning about the Canadian approach to water management, various assessments of beneficial farming practices, and integrated research programmes. The Canadian Water Network (CWN) links different groups together in various watersheds to develop programmes and assessments of all issues related to water management. The CWN are hosting my trip, and have been very generous with their time and support in helping me develop my itinerary and linking me up with people on the ground.

 

My journey started in New Brunswick, where I spent time touring the nuclear power facility at Point Lepreau with the New Brunswick Energy Institute, followed by time with New Brunswick government representatives who showed me the new dam and reservoir at Turtle Creek which provides municipal water supply to the town of Moncton. I then visited a New Brunswick dairy farm, where I learnt about the dyke system which prevents the inundation of farmland from the high tidal bores experienced in the Bay of Fundy. I explained the dyke system in more detail in my first post.

 

Following New Brunswick, I moved on to Prince Edward Island (PEI) where issues around water quality and the use of groundwater for supplemental irrigation are creating considerable debate amongst the local community. My next report will be on irrigation in the potato industry on PEI. My trip to the island was made more exciting by the arrival of the post-Hurricane Arthur storm which hit the Atlantic seaboard of the USA and Canada! Power went out on much of the Island for several hours and a large number of trees and property were damaged.

 

I then went on to Ottawa, where I will be met with various groups, including the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Agriculture and Ari-Food Canada, the Canadian Federation of Dairy Farmers, and the Ottawa Riverkeeper. I also be met with an academic and writer, and the New Zealand High Commissioner and our First Trade Secretary for Trade and Economy. I was able to spend time with a representative from the South Nation watershed Conservation Authority, when I learnt about their nutrient trading programme, which is made successful through their incentive funding for the implementation of farm management practices to reduce nutrient runoff.

 

Following on from there, I have been to Toronto and regional Ontario, and I will then be going on to Manitoba, Alberta, and finally British Columbia. I will try and provide regular updates on this site about what I have learned, including case study reports like the one on the dyke system.

 

Thanks to all those who have supported me so far on my trip, and I hope you enjoy reading about my travels and experiences.

 

Elizabeth Soal

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