Premium
The rise of specialty crops in Saskatchewan, 1981–2001
Author(s) -
Carlyle William J.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
canadian geographer / le géographe canadien
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.35
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1541-0064
pISSN - 0008-3658
DOI - 10.1111/j.0008-3658.2004.00052.x
Subject(s) - specialty , agriculture , agricultural economics , crop , geography , agricultural science , agroforestry , production (economics) , business , economics , forestry , environmental science , medicine , archaeology , pathology , macroeconomics
Specialty crops have risen from being of little to great importance in Saskatchewan agriculture over the past 20 years. Many interrelated factors have contributed to this change. These factors are analysed using a food supply system model that involves inputs, on‐farm production variables, research and linkages to farmers, contracting, transportation and processing and market development for specialty crops. Specialty crops, especially the dominant trio of pulse crops, dry field pea, lentil and chickpea, reduce input costs, have proved to be agronomically suitable to fill much of the land made available through the decline of spring wheat and summerfallow in Saskatchewan, have benefited from research and its transfer to farmers and farmers' producer groups, are transported to local or regional processors and have benefited from the development of domestic and foreign markets. Specialty crops as a group tended to be relatively more important in 2001 in the Brown and Dark Brown than the Black and Grey soil zones, although each main specialty crop displayed a distinct geographical pattern.