What does it take to get a southern Alberta potato from the field to a bag of potato chips? It takes a whole lot of people doing a whole lot of different jobs.
Trevor Lewington, chief executive officer for Economic Development Lethbridge, made that point Oct. 19 during a talk at the University of Lethbridge about trends and opportunities in southern Alberta’s food and agriculture industries.
As a former food company executive, Lewington used the region’s potato industry to illustrate the range of agricultural jobs available in today’s workforce, from cutting edge technology to janitorial work.
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About two billion pounds of potatoes are grown each year in southern Alberta, making it a $250 million business, said Lewington.
“Lethbridge is actually the hub of the Frito-Lay world,” he told those at the lecture.
PepsiCo, McCains, Lamb-Weston and Cavendish all have operations in the city, each processing different potato products and cumulatively providing thousands of jobs.
That is but one of the agricultural industries that form the base of the Lethbridge economy, much of it made possible by the availability of irrigation. Canola, pulse crops and hemp are also well represented, as is meat processing, research and agricultural education opportunities.
Lewington estimated that close to half the economic activity in Lethbridge is related to and dependent upon agriculture.
The region also has low unemployment, making it difficult for employers to find workers. In 2017, the jobless rate was 5.9 percent, just above what is generally considered as full employment.
“We’re the lowest in the province,” he said.
“Good for job seekers, not so good for industry.”
In a later interview, Lewington said immigration could be the key to the worker shortage.
“Canada is only going to grow through immigration, so we’ve got to figure out, how does that play into ag? There are many countries around the world that have ag expertise, so I don’t know necessarily that we’re targeting those,” he said.
It is part of Lewington’s job to “sell” people on the benefits of living in Lethbridge. Among its attributes, he said, are the lowest median value of dwellings to income among all Western Canadian cities and the fact that almost 50 percent of workers have a daily driving commute of less than 15 minutes.
