'Saskatchewan's largest annual megaproject': Producers expected to invest over $11B seeding, caring for 2023 crops

More than $11 billion will be invested by farmers across Saskatchewan to get their crops into the ground in 2023, according to a report from Economic Development Regina (EDR).

EDR said the report takes into account the cost of seed, treatment, fertilizer and labour to land on the $11 billion total.

The $11 billion also focuses on three major crops, canola, spring wheat and lentils.

Canola makes up $5 billion, spring wheat $3.3 billion and lentils $922 million, according to EDR’s report.

The report says producers in Saskatchewan are expected to seed about 12 million acres of canola in 2023, a 3.7 per cent increase over 2022. Spring wheat will cover about 9.2 million acres in 2023, a 10 per cent increase from last year and 3.5 million acres seeded is expected to be lentils, which is down 7.7 per cent from 2022. However, EDR said it’s part of a trend taking place across Canada.

“Seeding is without question Saskatchewan’s largest annual megaproject,” EDR president and CEO Chris Lane said in a news release. “When you consider the impact of this work extending across our economy, it’s impossible to overstate the value of agriculture to our province and our city.”

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According to the report, there were over 34,000 farms in Saskatchewan comprising more than 43 per cent of cropland in Canada.

Saskatchewan generated more than $18.4 billion in international sales and contributed over $82 billion to the province’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, the report says.

The latest crop report from the provincial government said that Saskatchewan producers have now seeded 89 per cent of the 2023 crop.

The northwest region has 97 per cent of this year’s crop in the ground, followed by the west-central with 94 per cent and the southwest at 90 per cent.

The least seeded part of the province is currently the southeast, however, 80 per cent of the crop is in the ground in that region, the province said.

EDR’s full report can be read here.