The effects of increased snowfall on drought and agriculture

The session featured presentations from two guest speakers: assistant professor Monireh Faramarzi from the University of Alberta; and Phillip Harder, the VP of data science at Croptimistic Technologies Inc.

Moderation for the session was provided by Sandeep Agrawal, Director at ALI.

The presentations were followed by a Q and A session.

Snow-agriculture interactions

Phillip Harder presented first. His presentation focused on the interactions between snow and agriculture.

Harder explained the various hydrological processes that affect agricultural water supply and use, how those processes differ in the winter months and some adaptation strategies for snow management.

Research Harder conducted at the University of Saskatchewan monitoring rainfall revealed that while rainfall accounts for a large portion of water used in agriculture, snow melt also contributes to crop water. Additionally, snow, unlike rain, is a precipitation process that can be managed to some degree.

Snow acts as temporary storage of water on the landscape but, snow pack is impacted by a number of factors, such as winds which move around fallen snow and lead to sublimation or loss of snow.

Harder’s research found that in agriculture, one way to manage snow loss to wind is to increase surface roughness through the use of stubble from various crops. While there were some differences between the efficacy of stubble from different crop types, the main factor was height. Higher stubble was able to trap more snow.

However, snow has a number of subsurface interactions which complicate water movement. Factors like mid winter melts or dry falls can affect the depth of frozen soils, impeding water penetration and movement.

Effects of winter hydrologic processes and soil moisture on soil phosphorous in canola agroecosystems in Canada

The second presentation was from Monireh Faramarzi, discussing her research on how phosphorus in soils is impacted by hydrologic processes in the winter.

Phosphorus is a major element in plant growth and was therefore selected by Faramarzi’s team as a topic of study. Through lit review, Faramarzi’s team developed a framework to examine soil phosphorus changes in agroecosystems while accounting for the processes that control phosphorus.

Through the study of several counties in the Red Deer River Basin, Faramarzi’s team found that soil phosphorus in the various counties fell into 3 categories: stationary phosphorus, accumulating phosphorus, or decreasing phosphorus.

The accumulation of phosphorus correlated with drier and warmer soils, whereas decreasing phosphorus correlated with wetter and cooler soils. The study also found that changes in winter hydrological processes due to climate change are affecting soil phosphorus due to factors like earlier snow melt, changing soil temperatures and freeze-thaw cycles.

Another interesting finding was that downstream counties were found to have higher accumulations of phosphorus due to runoff.

Q and A

During the Q and A session, During the Q and A session, Harder and Faramarzi shared several interesting additional insights.

In response to a question about how stubble density and uniformity affect snowpack, Harder shared that while rows perpendicular to wind can be more effective against prevailing winds, it does not account for variation in wind direction and is ultimately less effective than stubble height. Harder also touched on agroforestry for retaining snow, noting that while any reduction in wind speed will increase accumulation, agroforestry is a broad topic with it’s own complicating factors.

Addressing a question about irrigation as an adaptation since soil phosphorus was related to moisture, Faramarzi explained that while theoretically more moisture could help balance phosphorus levels, it could also cause a reaction with the higher calcium present in drier solid. The reaction could create a more stable form of the phosphorus mineral that is unavailable to plants which would cause further accumulation.
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A recording of the session will be made available on YouTube next week.

Thank you to all attendees and guest speakers. Keep an eye out for announcements for future webinar sessions.