One bumper crop does not an accomplished goal make, but Sask-atchewan premier Brad Wall said this year’s harvest goes a long way toward it.
The growth plan he announced last fall calls for crop production to increase by 10 million tonnes by 2020.
Last year, production was 26.4 million tonnes and this year’s estimates are for more than 30 million tonnes.
“The crop production goals are going to be facilitated not by one great year,” he told reporters after updating the Regina Chamber of Commerce on the plan’s progress.
“That’s helpful, but they’re going to be facilitated by us continuing to lead in terms of crop variety development that focused on quality and yield.”
Wall, who just returned from a trade mission to Southeast Asia, said 30 percent of all Canadian exports to the countries that belong to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations come from Saskatchewan.
Another growth plan goal called for an increase in exports of food and agricultural products from $10 billion in 2011 to $15 billion by 2020. The total hit $11.2 billion in 2012.
