OUTLOOK, Sask. — The Eliason family is well-established in this part of Saskatchewan.
The family homesteaded land northeast of Broderick nearly 120 years ago and a look at the rural municipal map shows the name is still prominent in the region as the family grew and cousins established their own operations.
Dale and Jan Eliason are the fourth generation on this farm and established Golden Dee Farms — for his initials and the golden harvest, said Dale — in 1983. A row of trees separates their home from Anthony and Samantha and the sixth generation, young Olivia, who is just two-and-a-half.
Dale’s great grandfather homesteaded nearby in 1904. At one time, he said, the farm included horses, cows and lots of sheep because much of it was once in pastureland.
The first two generations owned a lot of land, said Jan, and sponsored immigrants from Norway and the United States to join them.
Today, Dale and Anthony farm about 10 sections of both rented and owned land.
“We seed 5,000 acres and about 1,600 of that is irrigated,” said Anthony.
Irrigation is also associated with this part of Saskatchewan.
The largest of the province’s irrigation districts lies to the west of the Eliasons, but they are non-district irrigators who obtain water from the Broderick Reservoir through the Saskatoon South East Water Supply (SSEWS) canal.
Dale bought the first pivot in 1980.
“To try to guarantee a crop,” he said when asked why. “It takes most of the factors out.”
At that time just one neighbour was irrigating and Dale said he could see the difference it made.
“All of a sudden we had 440 acres of irrigation, and we were green,” he said. “It took time to learn because back then a lot was still farmed half and half. So, all of a sudden you had four times the land to worry about.”
They moved to direct seeding and continuous cropping in about 1984.
Anthony, who recently completed six years on the board of the Irrigation Crop Diversification Corp. and four of those as chair, said the SSEWS was originally designed to serve industry to the east, essentially potash mines, while irrigation was to be done through the South Saskatchewan River irrigation District.
The Eliasons pay a fee to SaskWater to irrigate because they are outside the district.
While irrigation lends itself to high-value vegetable and potato production, the Eliasons don’t grow them.
“Our soil is more clay loam,” Anthony said. “That’s why we grow other specialty crops.”
They grow canola, wheat, dry beans and flax under pivots. They grow the same crops on dry land, along with peas and mustard.
Aside from soil issues, potatoes still require rotation.
He said potatoes are a one-in-four-year crop and those acres have to be filled with something that will make money. Dry beans, which can be direct harvested with a flex header, meet that need for rotation and higher value.
The Eliasons added more pivots in the mid-1990s, again in the early 2000s and bought two more with some land a couple of years ago for a total of seven. Although they don’t use variable rate irrigation because their land isn’t variable enough, said Anthony, the computer systems allow them to speed up the equipment when it goes through a low slough area.
While irrigation takes out the limiting factor of water, it comes with other challenges. One of those is maintenance and breakdowns.
Tires, gear boxes and nozzles are in-season concerns. Tires don’t flatten the typical way but the sidewalls rot from sitting in the elements for five or 10 years.
“We always keep spare tires,” said Dale. “That way the machine isn’t down very long.”
There are also issues with algae at the screens on the canal. Sometimes they require cleaning hourly when it gets very hot.
The Eliasons said irrigation allows them to get yields that farmers in wetter parts of the province might normally grow.
“Irrigation is an added expense that allows us to catch up because we’re so dry normally,” said Anthony.
They said the region where they farm would look entirely different without irrigation.
“When the dam (Gardiner Dam on Lake Diefenbaker) first came the older generation was dead set against it,” Dale said. “Now, my generation is about 100 percent for it.”
His father, Allan, was all about innovation. He went from horse-drawn farm equipment to going to school to learn about GPS and how to run modern equipment.
“He turned 92 in the combine,” Dale said.
For Jan, who grew up with a small orchard near Vernon, B.C., innovation such as direct seeding and irrigation only made sense.
“It was so dry, and the winters were dry, and we knew we had to do something different,” she recalled.
The move to dry beans about three years ago is another attempt to do things differently. Two years ago, frost wiped out the crop and the sample beans all went into the dog food market for good money.
Typically, the Eliasons sell their crops through grain brokers. They are an hour away from the nearest grain elevator and prefer that someone else look after the sales, especially for niche crops like dry beans.
At this point, expansion plans aren’t in the cards. Land with irrigation can sell for more than $1 million per quarter section and investors have driven up the market. While dry land acres have also gone up in value, it hasn’t been to the same extent because owners can’t charge the same rents, said Anthony.
“We’re limited to irrigation on the land we own and we don’t really need a huge expansion,” he said.
Added Dale: “With just the two of us, we’re maxed out.”
They have put some of their poorer land back into pasture and rented it to local cattle producers.
Their land base is sufficient to support the two families. Dale and Jan’s two other sons have jobs off the farm: one as a teacher and one as a John Deere computer technician.
Samantha, originally from Torquay, Sask., has an interior decorating education and has worked in Outlook. More recently she established her own business, Via Organizing.
“I found I don’t necessarily love being in charge of renovations, but I do love being hands on and doing things I can to manage other people’s stuff,” she said.
Jan also worked at various jobs, including as a contributor to the local newspaper, and has her reiki master training.
Both run for parts and act as general farm support.
The farm hosts student tours to teach young people about the industry. Anthony, who has an agronomy degree and a mechanics certificate, participated in the Learn to Lead program through SaskCanola, which is designed to build leadership capacity among farmers, and the farm tours are a way to put that to work.
In January, he starts a four-year term as a SaskCanola director.
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