Irrigation is an economic engine that keeps on getting bigger and contributing more to the provincial economy, according to a new study commissioned by the Alberta Irrigation Districts Association.
The study concluded the economic contribution of irrigated crop and livestock production along with irrigation-related food processing and certain non-irrigation benefits added $5.4 billion annually to the provincial GDP. That’s a 50 per cent increase from a 2015 study led by the same consultant. (The first study examined the period 2000 to 2011 while the latter used data from 2011 to 2018.)
Irrigated acres are just 4.4 per cent of Alberta’s cultivated land base but generate 27 per cent of primary agricultural sales and 28 per cent of total agri-food GDP, the report says.
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