Sask Pork AGM Highlights Economic Contributions of Saskatchewan Pork Production

An assessment of the economic impact of pork production in Saskatchewan shows the province's pork sector contributes over 500 million dollars annually to the provincial and national gross domestic product and generates about 46 hundred jobs across Canada. One of the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board's larger projects this year was an economic impact study conducted by Serecon that highlighted the significant contributions that pork producers in Saskatchewan make to the economy and the significant number of people that are employed in the industry.

Sask Pork General Manager Mark Ferguson told those on hand in Swift Current for Sask Pork's 2024 Annual General Meeting the study outlines the economic impact of Saskatchewan’s pork sector on GDP, jobs, labour income and tax revenue at both the provincial and national levels.

Quote-Mark Ferguson-Saskatchewan Pork Development Board:

What we wanted to do was measure the direct, indirect and induced economic impact, so it's not just the jobs directly within the industry, so producing pigs but also some of the spinoff benefits and jobs that occur outside of the industry but wouldn’t be there if our industry didn't exist. That's things like processing, service providers, restaurants in communities with hog barns.

That's kind of the bigger economic picture. What the study found was that Saskatchewan's pork industry generates about 560 million dollars in GDP within the province of Saskatchewan and when you extend it out further it's close to 800 million nationally.The pork industry provides over three thousand full time jobs in Saskatchewan and about 46 hundred in Canada so it's a big employer.

We also have significant labor income as a result of that and municipal, provincial and federal taxes paid so this is an industry that is a big economic driver in the province.

Ferguson suggests it's important for policy makers in government at all levels to understand how big this business is in the province and it's important for producers to understand the impact they have on the economy.