This applied research is examining individual investment options to assess farm-level and regional-level impacts of farmers’ technical choices during periods of insufficient and excess (i.e., extreme) moisture using a cost-benefit framework. The RDI project team is joined with experts from the Universities of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Funding from the Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association and the Manitoba Agricultural Partnership is making this two year project a possibility.

Manitoba’s rapidly changing climate conditions are characterized by increased frequency and intensity of extreme moisture events. With four of the top ten Assiniboine River floods and five of the top ten Red River floods all happening in the last twenty-five years, there is clear change afoot. This new reality impacts both our agricultural community on the farm level (e.g., crop losses, delayed farm practices) as well as other residents and regional activities (e.g., loss of lives, damaged infrastructure as the effects of extreme moisture events usually extend beyond the time and place in which they occur). This research aims to better understand how farmers and related decision makers might utilize this knowledge to make and support on-farm investment decisions related to managing times of extreme moisture.

For more information about this project, contact:

Dr. Alexander Koiter: Principal Investigator, 204-727-7393, koitera@brandonu.ca

Michael Asante: Project Researcher, +1-587-334-7979, asantem@brandonu.ca

Read more about this project:

• Excess Moisture Management Factsheet