Rocky View County (RVC) recently released an Agricultural Sector Profile developed by the County’s Economic Development department to assist with investment attraction, business retention, and expansion of the agriculture sector in the County.
The profile, which was created to “promote the County as a choice destination for investment in agriculture among local and international audiences [and] foster strong relationships with local businesses to understand their needs and growth opportunities,” will also serve as part of the input into the County’s proposed Agriculture Sector Master Plan that is currently being developed.
“Arguably agriculture is the most important economic sector within the County,” said Aaron Latimer, the manager of Economic Development for the County. “This [Sector Plan] is an outstanding summary of our current state in the County that will feed into the Agriculture Sector plan.”
Latimer stated that the report identifies RVC’s current state in terms of grain production, as well as how many acres are allocated in the County for each of the product types and how it relates to the provincial allocation of total acreage.
“When you look at the report itself, we talk about some industry trends,” Latimer said. “The demand for plant based proteins is certainly growing, there is a generational shift in terms of Canadian demographics...That will change the way food is marketed and sold. Generation Y and Z are more health conscious, more ethnically diverse, and have a preference in diversity and quality of their food.”
Latimer said that the Sector Profile will primarily be used as an investment tool for potential investors and site selectors and businesses.
“The County plans to use the document when we're responding to investment inquiries and outbound marketing and prospecting for companies that may say this is a great place to invest in,” he added.
According to Latimer, there are 1,140 farms in Rocky View County, totalling over half a billion dollars in terms of farm output. But with that comes some challenges. For example, RVC, like many rural, agrarian-centric municipalities, is preparing for an upcoming drought.
However, according to Latimer, RVC is actually positioned well to fend off any water related shortcomings.
“The drought is obviously a very substantive topic,” he said. “We're well positioned from an irrigation standpoint, being part of Western Irrigation group.”
“We didn't identify particularly substantive risks, other than climate changing events that may occur,” added Latimer. “We were more focused on our current assets and what we bring to the industry as a whole. We didn't mitigate it, we just didn't address it as a substantive issue because it is a changing dynamic, but we did note that we do have good quality access to water within the County.”
Latimer mentioned that the Sector Plan is part of a new priority to identify agriculture as a key economic development driver in the County. He said it is really designed to position agriculture as a "key priority area for economic development within the County.”
