A new report released today by the Canola Council of Canada shows that canola’s positive impact on the Saskatchewan economy has grown to $12.2 billion annually, substantially higher than previous estimates.
About 92,000 jobs and $3.9 billion in wages can now be traced back to the canola grown, processed and handled in this province, according to the new report.
“Canola is a major driver of Saskatchewan’s economy,” says Brian Innes, the Canola Council’s vice president of government relations. “Those beautiful yellow Saskatchewan canola fields are an economic engine for the whole province.”
The report was developed by LMC international, a leading agri-business research firm. LMC used best practices to estimate the total benefits rippling through the economy as Canadian-grown canola is developed, grown, processed and marketed. The analysis is based on data from three crop years: 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15.
In total, canola generates $26.7 billion in economic benefits a year across all ten Canadian provinces. Saskatchewan is the main canola-producing province and home to a significant amount of the country’s canola processing capacity and research.
Saskatchewan jobs are generated by all parts of the canola value chain, from research to delivery to the end customer. However, the largest number of these jobs – nearly 55,000 – are generated by the business of canola farming, which stimulates investment in things such as research, seed development, equipment, crop inputs and farm management services. As the wages from these jobs are spent, the effects are felt all through the Saskatchewan economy.
Source : Saskcanola