Alberta’s potato industry is making a big impact — not just on that province but the entire country.
A new report — dubbed a “landmark study” by the Potato Growers of Alberta — revealed the sector drove a total contribution of $2.87 billion to Canada’s economy in 2022.
It also notes the nationwide creation of 9,390 full-time-equivalent jobs, $662 million in employment income, a $1.3 billion contribution to GDP and $87 million in tax revenue to federal and provincial governments.
“We know that our industry has grown a lot in recent years but we had no accurate assessment of its overall impact on our economy,” said James Bareman, chair of the Potato Growers, in a webinar Tuesday.
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“The industry could not have grown to this scale without the goodwill and collaboration of all parties involved: growers, processors, packers, the service sector, the scientific community and governments.”
The Alberta Potato Industry – Growing Success in 2022 was completed by Serecon and Nichols Applied Management — both Edmonton-based consultants with experience in developing economic impact assessments in the ag sphere.
The firms used world-standard industry methodology — further scrutinized and approved by an independent third-party university economist — to conduct the study.
“We wanted to ensure the study was accurate and the methodology was beyond reproach,” Potato Growers executive director Terence Hochstein wrote in a release.
“That’s why we went to great lengths to ensure it was conducted in a manner that would pass rigorous external scrutiny.”
Alberta is home to two broad regions of potato growers, Darren Haarsma of Serecon said: seed and table potatoes north of Calgary and processed potato products (chips, hash browns, et cetera) in the south.
Both subsectors are doing well, he said.
“Since 2017, there’s been marked increase in acres in Alberta across all types of production,” said Haarsma.
“A noteworthy point about the Alberta industry that makes it unique in comparison to other provinces is that the average production — thanks in large part to the extensive irrigation in Alberta — is about 30 per cent higher than the rest of Canada’s average.”
— Jeff Melchior is a reporter for Alberta Farmer in Edmonton.
