Canola industry adds $12.2B, 92,000 jobs to provincial economy

A new report commissioned by the Canola Council of Canada reveals the gold that’s growing with those fields of yellow.

“When you’re driving down the road in July, you see the great yellow flowers of canola in Saskatchewan. But what you don’t see are the hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country that are linked to it and that’s what this report shows,” said Brian Innes, vicepresident of government relations at the Canola Council of Canada.

On average, canola is a $12.2 billion industry now. About 92,000 jobs and $3.9 billion in wages can now be traced back to the canola grown, processed and handled in Saskatchewan, according to the new report. Titled The Economic Impact of Canola on the Canadian Economy, the report by LMC International analyzed data from three crop years, including the 2012, 2013 season, 2013, 2014 season and the 2014, 2015 season.

In Canada there are approximately 43,000 canola farmers with 26,000 of them living in Saskatchewan. The report found 250,000 people work in a career directly or indirectly in the canola industry, making $11.2 billion in wages.

Across the country, canola generates $26.7 billion in economic benefits a year. However, Saskatchewan is the leader, with Alberta falling behind at $7.13 billion and Manitoba at $4.6 billion.

“Agriculture is not seen as maybe a big player in the Canadian economy, but studies like this really help to showcase the importance that agriculture and canola do play,” said Janice Tranberg, executive director of SaskCanola.

He thinks the report will assist in discussions about policy creation with governments in the future.