OUTLOOK, Sask. – Saskatchewan grows only seven percent of the vegetables it consumes, while Manitoba grows 57 percent of its produce and Alberta more than 30 percent.
Oliver Green of Broderick Gardens in Broderick, Sask., led other growers in a discussion Dec. 10 in Outlook about the reasons for those differences and explored ways to improve production and marketing and attract new growers to the industry.
“Production is the problem, not marketing,” he said. “If we had the product, we could sell it.”
Green said Saskatchewan brings $30 million worth of vegetables into a province that can produce all of them.
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Vegetable growers face many challenges, including the lack of crop insurance, now available only for potatoes. That increases risks and limits growers’ access to government programs, he said.
Production is also curbed by limited storage facilities.
Green suggested immigration as one option that could be explored by the Saskatchewan Vegetable Growers Association in the coming months.
He said Saskatchewan has everything in place to grow quality vegetables.
“We just need people committed to produce them.”
Green, who has successfully sold pumpkins in a marketing group, said buyers need large volumes and want to deal with one person.
Andrew Sullivan, provincial vegetable crops specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture, believes co-operation through joint marketing or a central marketing agency as in Manitoba could help Saskatchewan growers increase their profitability.
Saskatchewan has not been able to supply the volume needed by large retail and wholesale buyers, but Sullivan said growers around Outlook have been successful in supplying produce to wholesalers to sell on a regional basis.
