The economy of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

has been associated with

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

resulting in the moniker "Bread Basket of Canada" and Bread Basket of the World. According to the Government of Saskatchewan, approximately 95% of all items produced in Saskatchewan, depend on the basic resources available within the province. Various grains, livestock, oil and gas, potash, uranium, wood and their spin off industries fuel the economy. As of 2017, Saskatchewan's GDP was approximately C$79.513 billion.

Agriculture

The Dominion Lands Act was passed in 1872 to encourage an agricultural settlement for a united British North America. The completion of the

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...

link between eastern Canada through the District of Assiniboia in 1885, the development of the high-yielding and early-maturing Marquis strain of wheat and establishment of an import market in the United Kingdom supplied the first impetus for economic development and supported population settlement.

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

had a positive impact on Saskatchewan agriculture. The enlistment quota from Saskatchewan to the Canadian Expeditionary Force as the pre-requisite was for British subjects, and several ethnic bloc settlements were immigrants from Europe. There was a need for food production to be maintained, and farmers were exempt from conscription as well. The allies need for wheat production increased, and farm wages doubled. Following the war, the Soldier Settlement Act of 1917 established service men with agricultural land. Saskatchewan's population peaked in 1936 at 931,200 people. The ''Great Depression'' combined the 1929 stock market crash with the drought years of the 1930s causing devastating effects on the economy of Saskatchewan. The per capita income between 1928 and 1933 dropped 72%. The drought years of 1928, 1931 through 1934 and again in 1937 hit hard following the recession and the lowered demand for wheat exports. The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration PFRA established a work relief program developing community pastures, water and irrigation projects. Approximately 250,000 people left the provinces during the era of the ''Dirty Thirties'' when Saskatchewan became a virtual ''dust bowl''.

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

also held Saskatchewan's economy back, as overseas markets for wheat were virtually eliminated. Saskatchewan agricultural land comprises 44% of the total Canadian farmland. Excluding a semi-arid area of the southwest used for

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and ot ...

the parkland and mixed prairie areas of the province are used for crop production, mixed farming and dairying.

Grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit ( caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

farming dominates the parkland area. Saskatchewan usually produces about 54% of Canada's wheat. The vast extensions of unbroken plain are well-suited to large-scale mechanized

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

Wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

is the most familiar crop but other grains like

canola Close-up of canola blooms Canola flower Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils. There are both edible and industrial forms produced from rapeseed, the seed of several cultivars of the plant family Brassicaceae. Historically, ...

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as ...

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...

, mustard, vegetable farms, forage seed, potatoes

rapeseed Rapeseed (''Brassica napus ''subsp.'' napus''), also known as rape, or oilseed rape, is a bright-yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family), cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, which naturally contains a ...

, rye, oats,

pea The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...

lentil The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest p ...

s, canary seed, and

are also grown. Specialty crop production sown in 1981 amounted to in 2001. The farm and agricultural component is still a significant part of the economy the

Saskatchewan Wheat Pool The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was a grain handling, agri-food processing and marketing company based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Pool created a network of marketing alliances in North America and internationally which made it the largest agricul ...

(SWP), has been "the world's largest grain-handling co-operative". The SWP, now named Vittera, is no longer the major industrial component provincially ranking eighth largest. Meat processing is the largest industry here, followed by dairy production, breweries, and the subsidiary industry of agricultural implements.

still has cattle ranching along the southwestern corner of the province. Mixed grain farming, dairy farms, mixed livestock and grazing lands dot the central lowlands region of this prairie province. Beef cattle production in the province is only exceeded by Alberta. Agricultural data for Saskatchewan has been collected since 1906. Saskatchewan has 41% of Canada's agricultural land, with an estimated 44,329 farms in 2006, generating a net farm income $CAN697.3 million in 2007.

Livestock

Since 1996 and 2001 census showed that

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to ani ...

numbers have increased to record levels cattle: up by 4.4%, pigs by 26.4%, and sheep by 46. Beef cow numbers rose to 15.6 million head nationally. Saskatchewan had approximately 20% of the national herd with Alberta dominating at 43%. There were just more than 13.6% less dairy cows since 1996. There was an even bigger decline of 29.2% in the number of farms with dairy cows. At the turn of the century, the early 1900s saw settlers who needed to import their butter. By the roaring twenties dairy production in Saskatchewan not only filled domestic needs, but Saskatchewan dairy farmers were able to export to Britain. The numbers of large animals for 2001 were: # Cattle and calves (2.9 million) # Sheep and lambs (149,000) # Pigs (1.1 million) # Other animals (184,000) The province also supported a large poultry industry with 9.7 million birds. Diversification in livestock production has seen sheep, and lamb, goat, rabbit, and fox farms, and exotic animals such as bison, deer, elk and llama farms. Specialised livestock may include ratites which would be ostrich, emu, and rhea farms.

Business and markets

The total market value of Saskatchewan's farms estimated in 2001 was $33,463,911,487 in 2001 compared to the amount of $196,868,929,481 for all of Canada.

Farms and people

In 1996, the average farm size in Saskatchewan was . As the farm population continued to decline, in 1996 only 14% of the Province's population lived on a farm. Most farms were grain and

oilseed Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or f ...

, however, the trend is to diversify with speciality

crops A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponi ...

and

animals Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in ...

Land and crops

There were 44,329 farms in Saskatchewan as of May 15, 2006. Triticum durum

Of these farms, 15.7% were cropped as wheat and 57.3% were typed as oilseed crops. The Crop Development Centre (CDC), established in 1971, helped establish the pulse industry in Saskatchewan. Oilseeds, pulses and speciality crops continued to increase as farmers diversified their crop production.

Crops

The 2006 census shows 44,328 farms, which declined in the last five years by 12.6%. According to the 2001 census the number of farms in Saskatchewan (50, 598) declined by 11.2% from the amounts reported from the prior census in 1996. Farms were fewer by 24.8% a decade ago (1991). In 1936, about seven decades ago the highest census for farms occurred and the number was 142,391. Saskatchewan accounts for 20% of all Canadian farmers and has the largest farms with an average farm size of 1283 acres (up from in the last census). The province had nearly 40% of the agricultural land in Canada, nearly 13 million acres (53,000 km²) more than second-place Alberta. About 64.9 million acres (263,000 km²) of the province is farmland. Thirty-eight million acres (154,000 km²) were cropped in 2001. Distribution of farmland: # Cropped: 38 million acres (154,000 km²) #

Summer fallow Summer fallow, sometimes called fallow cropland, is cropland that is purposely kept out of production during a regular growing season. Resting the ground in this manner allows one crop to be grown using the moisture and nutrients of more than one c ...

: 7.7 million acres (31,000 km²) # Tame (seeded) pasture: 3.5 million acres (14,000 km²) # Natural pasture: 12.7 million acres (51,000 km²) # Other: 3.0 million acres (12,000 km²) Spring wheat still dominated the prairie landscape, though the crop is losing ground to oilseeds and specialty crops. The five major crops in 2001 were: # Spring wheat (10.7 million acres) # Barley (4.7 million acres) # Durum wheat (4.6 million acres) # Canola (4.3 million acres) # Alfalfa/alfalfa mixtures (2.8 million acres) Farm cash receipts
Farm cash receipts accumulated to C$6,643,622 in 2006, and C$6,490,850 thousand in 2001. Wheat accounted for 26% of the total and cattle 19% in 2001. In 2006, there were 25.4% less wheat farms which amounted to 6,938, and a 6% increase in cattle farms amounting to 12,249 in 2006. The 2001 census reported that

was the most significant crop after wheat and the pulse percentage and speciality crops were increasing. Dairy making continued in decline, while hog production was increasing. Whereas the 2006 census showed a rise in beef cattle, chicken egg production, broiler production, poultry hatcheries, combination poultry and egg production, apiculture, horse, livestock combination, soybean, oilseed, fruit, and nursery and tree production. Saskatchewan (GPD) (2002)
In 2002, agriculture,

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

, and

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

accumulated for 6% of the Province's $28.1 billion GPD. The importance of agriculture however lay in the provinces exports. More than 73% of the GPD came from exports of goods and services. Agriculture-food exports
Saskatchewan exported $4,152.2 million of agriculture and food products in 2000 making 32% of the total exports ($12,950.6 million). Agriculture and food products were a declining majority as a contributor to exports (i.e. in 1997 over 50% of exports were agricultural). The United States, Japan, EU, and China buy more than 50% of the agriculture-food exports. The USA is the single largest buyer, receiving 23% of Saskatchewan's agri-food exports.

Technology

The two Innovation Place Research Parks immediately adjacent to Regina and Saskatoon Universities host several science and technology companies which conduct research activities in conjunction with University departments. Given Saskatchewan's booming economy and recent change of government, the shape of higher education in the province may be changing. Modern diversification has meant that now agriculture,

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

, and

together make up only 6.8% of the province's GDP. Not until the 1970s did the economy begin to shift from agri-based to industrial-based activity, although agriculture continues to dominate the economy of the city and province. Saskatchewan predominates as the largest producer of biofuels. Ethanol, biodiesel, and biogas are produced from canola, barley, and wheat. A third innovation place research park has earned the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) award at the Prince Albert location named ''Forest Centre''. The three parks contribute approximately $592 million to the provincial economy annually.

Minerals

Mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

is also a major industry in the province, with Saskatchewan being the world leader in

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water- soluble form.

and

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

exports. Saskatchewan is rich in

minerals In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed ...

Oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon d ...

found beneath the prairie, prove to be one of the province's most important minerals. The area north of Lake Athabaska has been exploited for ores yielding

. In 1995 Saskatchewan uranium amounted to 30% of world uranium reserves. The

Paleoproterozoic The Paleoproterozoic Era (;, also spelled Palaeoproterozoic), spanning the time period from (2.5–1.6 Ga), is the first of the three sub-divisions ( eras) of the Proterozoic Eon. The Paleoproterozoic is also the longest era of the Earth's ...

greenstone belt Greenstone belts are zones of variably metamorphosed mafic to ultramafic volcanic sequences with associated sedimentary rocks that occur within Archaean and Proterozoic cratons between granite and gneiss bodies. The name comes from the gree ...

around

Flin Flon Flin Flon (pop. 5,185 in 2016 census; 4,982 in Manitoba and 203 in Saskatchewan) is a mining city, located on a correction line on the border of the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with the majority of the city located within M ...

, in the northeast, is mined for

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

, and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

. In the southwest and

Estevan Estevan is the eighth-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is approximately north of the Canada–United States border. The Souris River runs by the city. This city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Estevan No. 5. History Th ...

area, coal has been mined since 1880. In the early twentieth century lignite coal for power and heating was Saskatchewan's chief mineral. Clay products and ceramics were viewed as the next valuable resource in the early twentieth century. Potash mining began in the 1950s near

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

and Esterhazy, and Canada is currently a leading producer of the mineral. The majority of the province's industries process raw materials. The world's largest publicly traded

company, Cameco, and the world's largest

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water- soluble form.

producer,

Nutrien Nutrien is a Canadian fertilizer company based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It is the largest producer of potash and the third largest producer of nitrogen fertilizer in the world. It has over 2,000 retail locations across North America, S ...

, have corporate headquarters in Saskatoon. Nearly two-thirds of the world's recoverable potash reserves are located in central Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan "has an estimated 75% of the world’s potash reserves"

kaolin Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedra ...

sodium sulphite Sodium sulfite (sodium sulphite) is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula Na2 SO3. A white, water-soluble solid, it is used commercially as an antioxidant and preservative. A heptahydrate is also known but it is less useful because of ...

and

bentonite Bentonite () is an absorbent swelling clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite (a type of smectite) which can either be Na-montmorillonite or Ca-montmorillonite. Na-montmorillonite has a considerably greater swelling capacity than Ca-m ...

contribute to Saskatchewan's economy. PotashUSGOV

Oil and gas

and

production is also a very important part of Saskatchewan's economy, producing more oil than gas. Only Alberta exceeds the province in overall oil production. The first oil well was drilled as early as 1874 at

Fort Pelly Fort Pelly was a Hudson's Bay Company fur trading post located in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The fort was named after Sir John Pelly, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. The current village of Pelly, Saskatchewan, takes its name ...

. Heavy crude is extracted in the Lloydminster-Kerrobert-Kindersley areas. Light crude is found in the Kindersley-Swift Current areas as well as the Weyburn-Estevan fields. Natural gas is found almost entirely in the western part of Saskatchewan, from the Primrose Lake area through Lloydminster, Unity, Kindersley, Leader, and around Maple Creek areas. Saskatchewan supplies about 10% of Canadian oil reserves and 25% of the nation's natural gas reserves.

Forestry

In the northern part of the province, forestry is significant. North of the treeline in Saskatchewan are of forests which provide resources for the Saskatchewan forestry industry. The forestry industry comprises lumber and sodium sulphate for pulp and paper resources.

Fisheries, hunting, trapping and fur farming

The historic process of fur trapping is still practiced. The Saskatchewan annual production from fisheries, fur farming and trapping rank below the forestry sector in provincial economy.

Employment

A list of th
top 100
companies includes The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Federated Cooperatives Ltd. and IPSCO. Major Saskatchewan-based

Crown corporations A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

are Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI), SaskTel, SaskEnergy (the province's main supplier of natural gas), and

SaskPower Saskatchewan Power Corporation, operating as SaskPower, is the principal electric utility in Saskatchewan, Canada. Established in 1929 by the provincial government, it serves more than 538,000 customers and manages over $11.8 billion in assets. S ...

. Bombardier runs the NATO Flying Training Centre at 15 Wing, near

Moose Jaw Moose Jaw is the fourth largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Lying on the Moose Jaw River in the south-central part of the province, it is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina. Residents of Moose Jaw are known as Moose Javian ...

. Bombardier was awarded a long-term contract in the late 1990s for $2.8 billion from the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...

for the purchase of military aircraft and the running of the training facility.

Government involvement

Legislation regarding environmental concerns and the economy of Saskatchewan are regulated by Saskatchewan Environment.

References

External links

Overview of the Saskatchewan Economy Government of Saskatchewan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Economy Of Saskatchewan

Agriculture

Livestock

Business and markets

Farms and people

Land and crops

Crops

Technology

Minerals

Oil and gas

Forestry

Fisheries, hunting, trapping and fur farming

Employment

Government involvement

See also

References

External links