Carrots pose opportunity
Potatoes are the hot talk in many irrigated areas of the Prairies, but carrots might also prove a success.
When farmers here think about market development, the image in their mind’s eye is often of Canadians convincing Japanese or Americans or Columbians to eat our beef, durum or peas.
Yet there are opportunities to replace imported foods. We might never supply our own pineapples and coffee, but we can grow carrots.
Alberta and Manitoba each commercially produce 10-12 million pounds of carrots a year while Saskatchewan produces almost none. Oliver Green, president of the Saskatchewan Vegetable Growers Association, notes Saskat-
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chewan people eat about 5.5 million pounds of the orange veggie. Much of the supply comes from the United States, but he thinks more of it could be grown here.
Carrots require little hand labor and there are effective chemical weed control products, he says.
Studies at the Saskatchewan Irrigation Development Centre indicate carrot production can be profitable with gross returns per acre of $10,000-$15,000.
One obstacle to the industry’s development in Saskatchewan, though, is lack of proper storage. With a special temperature and relative humidity controlled system called filacell, carrots can be kept about eight months, maybe longer.
But such a facility costs about $500,000, too much for one producer to handle. So Green believes a group of farmers and investors need to be involved.
An Alberta producer says import replacement is fine, but there is no reason prairie carrots can’t be exported to the U.S. and offshore.
Shelley Beck and husband Rod have grown as many as 120 acres of carrots for the wholesale market, but have backed off a little and this year seeded 60 acres to sell to farmers markets.
Beck says prairie carrots could build niche markets at home and abroad with the right organization.
“There are lots of markets we could tap into, especially with specialty products. We can grow nicer, sweeter-tasting carrots than they can grow in California,” she says.
It’s the cool prairie nights that increase the sugar content of the carrots, she adds.
If fruits can be shipped from California, Mexico and Chile, says Green, why can’t we ship vegetables there?
“Our low land costs and water availability and the perceived pristine environment has some advantages on the world stage. If you get out there knocking on doors, who knows what opportunities there are?”
