Economic Development Regina prepared a report highlighting these figures
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Collectively, Saskatchewan farmers are spending billions of dollars to seed the 2023 spring crop.
A report prepared by Economic Development Regina (EDR) says Saskatchewan farmers will invest more than $11 billion to get spring canola, wheat and lentils into the ground.
Seeding canola costs about $5 billion, $3.3 billion for spring wheat and $922 million for lentils, EDR says.
To put the total number into context, $11 billion would be enough money to build Mosaic Stadium about 40 times. Construction for the stadium cost $278 million.
The report is a comprehensive look at the multiple pieces necessary to raise a crop.
This includes field preparation, seed and seed treatment, fertilizer, labour, energy and other inputs.
“Seeding is without question Saskatchewan’s largest annual megaproject,” Chris Lane, CEO of EDR, said in a press release. “When you consider the impact of this work extending across our economy, it’s impossible to overstate the value of agriculture to our province and city.”
In terms of diesel fuel costs, for example, farmers are spending in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Sask. producers are expected to plant around 11.8 million acres of canola this spring. This translates to more than $303 million diesel fuel costs using a price of $1.403 per litre, EDR’s report says.
Spring wheat farmers will spend more than $220 million on diesel for their roughly 9.2 million acres, and lentil producers will use $94 million of diesel to raise their almost 3.5 million crop acres.
EDR’s report also reconfirmed how important agriculture is to the provincial economy.
In 2022, the province’s 34,000 farms generated $18.4 billion in international sales and contributed more than $82 billion to Saskatchewan’s GDP.
And in the Greater Regina Area alone, agriculture directly employed 3,369 people.
“Tens of thousands of people in Regina owe their livelihood, either directly or indirectly, to agriculture,” the report says. “As the industry succeeds so too does the city.”