Agriculture by the numbers.

Although a more diversified provincial economy has seen agriculture slip from its traditional, perennial spot as the Number One industry in the province, the agriculture sector continues to be a primary focal point for those of us who call Saskatchewan home. Let's face it. Although the ties may be getting further and further away with each successive generation, virtually every Saskatchewanite's roots hail from a rural area.

Even more defining perhaps, is that outside of our four borders, almost everyone thinks of Saskatchewan as nothing more than a sprawling tract of land whose dirt roads and grain elevators are the only things separating the golden fields of wheat that stretch as far as the eye can see.

While at least a fragment of that image may have been partially true in the past, those of us who have travelled to any extent within the province now know that nothing could be further from the truth. For not only has diversification taken root in the provincial economy, but it has also done so on the farm itself.

Wheat, although still the dominant crop grown in Saskatchewan, is being challenged by other varieties, including barley, canola (a Saskatchewan innovation itself), and peas. Although cereal is still king, oil seeds and pulse crops, including peas and lentils, are coming on stronger than ever and certainly compared to a generation or two ago, have appeared from virtually nowhere.

Of course this trend towards a more diversified cropping rotation has stemmed from the producers themselves looking for anything and everything possible to help add value to their bottom line. This search has been hindered by Mother Nature, who took it upon herself to see to it that 65 per cent of the prairie cropland was affected by either moderate, severe or record drought conditions.

Indeed Saskatchewan production of the major grains, oil seeds and specialty crops in 2002 was 43 per cent below the 10-year (1992-2001) average of 24.6 million tonnes. This, despite the fact that the seeded area in 2002 was estimated at 34.3 million acres, or four per cent above that same 10-year average.

Mother Nature's cruelty didn't stop with the drought either. Monsoon-like rains dumped upon a good portion of southwestern Saskatchewan late in the growing season and into harvest. Granted, this moisture is much-needed in terms of replenishing the depleted moisture reserves, but it did little to help with harvest. In fact presently there's about 1.8 million acres left to be harvested, as thousands of farmers were forced to simply watch their swaths become snow catchers this past winter. But as is likely said in the minds of the typical Saskatchewan farmer, 'at least there's snow cover.'

Nevertheless, despite all of these obstacles and hurdles, agriculture still generates about $2 billion annually, making it vital to our economy. This is marginally smaller than the numbers posted by the collective industry of mining and petroleum, which generates $2.4 billion annually, while service-based sectors such as finance, insurance and real estate, account for $3.3 billion.

Had Nature been a little more kind, no doubt things could have been a lot better on Saskatchewan farms. But it hasn't been all bad news on the farm. In fact in one very pertinent statistic -- bankruptcies -- Saskatchewan farms were much better off than previous years. According to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, 50 Saskatchewan farmers filed for bankruptcy during 2002, which represents a decrease of 21.9 per cent from 2001.

"The trend downward in 2002 is an interesting statistic," says assistant deputy minister of Saskatchewan Agriculture, Food and Rural Revitalization, Hal Cushon. "Especially if you compare it to Manitoba or Ontario, where they went up."

Integrating livestock onto Saskatchewan farms is usually a wise move in terms of stabilizing the peaks and valleys typical of commodity-based sectors. Surprisingly, in spite of the drought, which some analysts have determined to be the worst in modern history -- drier than the infamous Dirty '30s -- cattle numbers in Saskatchewan have not only been maintained, but actually a slight increase was experienced despite feed being extremely difficult to not only grow, but obtain from other markets. Cushon looks to the livestock sector as one positive reflection of Saskatchewan's agriculture industry overall.

"The industry had set a target of growing the hog industry to 2 million hogs by 2002 and they've met that and continue to grow," he says. "Another real positive is that the cow herd has actually grown in Saskatchewan even though we've had droughts."

Indeed the latest Statistics Canada cattle inventory numbers show cattle numbers in Saskatchewan actually increased by one per cent during 2002. This may seem like an insignificant increase, hardly worth mentioning, but when coupled with the severe shortage of hay, particularly last year, and farmers needing to find cash via whatever means possible, this one per cent increase is astounding.

"It was probably done with a lot of angst on individual farmers and a lot of cost, but they've clearly made the effort to maintain the cow herd and they succeeded," Cushon says, going on to add more positive news in the ag sector. "With the conservation cover program, we've seen a million acres converted to grass the last couple of years."

"And something we don't have statistics on is but certainly anecdotally we know that we're getting Alberta farmers and overseas farmers moving into Saskatchewan," he continues. "And their comment after they've been here a while is, 'Yes, you have challenges. But you know what? You've got tons of opportunities compared to where we're coming from.'"

By no stretch of the imagination, however, does the agriculture industry simply mean primary agriculture. We have grown far beyond being just primary producers of product. Aside from the other sources of agricultural ingenuity including livestock -- of all types -- now thrown into the mix are equipment manufacturing and agricultural biotechnology. Saskatchewan has become internationally renown for its developments in both counts.

"There's a lot of individual business success stories, Cushon notes going on to offer examples, including those in the livestock field. "Big Sky Pork, O and T Poultry, Poundmaker is a real success story both as a feed lot and as an ethanol plant, Mitchell's in Saskatoon and Harvest Meats as meat processors. Prairie Malt in Biggar just keeps chugging along as a very viable business. There's lots more of those and I've just mentioned a few."

"The other thing that we tend to maybe forget or take for granted is just how much Saskatoon is the centre for excellence for agriculture research," Cushon continues. "If you drive through the campus at Innovation Place you see the physical evidence for that. But it is the real centre of dryland farming techniques, livestock production, biotech and so on.

And by no means does the good news stop there. With the late fall moisture being complemented by a normal to better-than-average year of snow cover, as opposed to little or no snow cover which has transpired in recent winters, all indications are pointing toward a much higher level of moisture reserves for the upcoming growing season. Perhaps we're finally coming upon the infamous 'Next Year.'

One can only hope, as the farm economy will forever more remain very much an integral cog in the overall provincial economic picture.

CONTACT

Hal Cushon

Assistant Deputy Minister

Saskatchewan Agriculture, Food and Rural Revitalization

[phone]

RELATED ARTICLE: Statistically Speaking

* Saskatchewan's total land area is 220,200 square miles or 140.9 million acres.

* Farmland area comprises 65.7 million acres, of which cultivated farmland area is 49.6 million acres, and native pasture and other is 16.1 million acres.

* The number of farms in Saskatchewan is 56,995 as of the 1996 Census of Agriculture.

* Average farm size is 1,152 acres. Average cultivated area on farms is 870 acres.

* Crops produced by these farms account for 78 per cent of the annual Saskatchewan agriculture receipts.

* Saskatchewan is the leading producer of cereal grains in Canada with in excess of 21 million acres in production annually.

* Cereal grains in Saskatchewan include wheat (winter, spring, durum) oats, barley, rye (fall and spring), and triticale.

* Saskatchewan cereal production accounts for 60 per cent of the total area seeded and 75 per cent of the total grain produced.

* Farmers and researchers are also looking to non-traditional uses of cereal grains and straw to further diversify within the cereal sector.

* Saskatchewan has approximately 30,000 forage growers with in excess of 2.8 million acres in tame hay production.

* The value of the hay produced is approximately $260 million. Rangeland in Saskatchewan exceeds 16 million acres.

* Provincial forage resources currently support a cattle herd of over 2.8 million head.

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture, Food and Rural Revitalization