Bad weather, low prices and high costs have pushed 14,700 Saskatchewan farmers off the land in the last five years.
Nola Joorisity, chief executive officer of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Saskatchewan, said fewer people will be employed in primary agriculture as farmers get older and a new generation doesn’t replace them.
“They don’t necessarily have a child who wants or is able to take on the family farm,” she said.
In 2002, 37 percent of farmers were aged 55 or older. As they retire, larger grain farms and intensive livestock operations are replacing them.
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The institute released the numbers, provided by Statistics Canada, as part of a report on Saskatchewan jobs. The number of people employed in processing or who own implement dealerships and other agricultural industries are contained in other categories.
“(The 14,700 loss) is primary agriculture – crops and animal production,” Joorisity said. “Twenty-four percent of the jobs available in 2000 are now gone.”
In the same period in the province, there were 10,400 new jobs in oil and gas, mining, utilities, manufacturing and construction. Joorisity said it’s likely that former farmers hold some of those positions as the labour force shifts.
