Food for thought – taking a closer look at local food processors
LETHBRIDGE – The price of oil rises and falls, and with it goes much of Alberta’s economy. But people will always need to eat, and Lethbridge is responsible for producing a good deal of food.
“It’s a pretty major driver of our economy,” says Trevor Lewington of Economic Development Lethbridge. “And it’s part of the reason that Lethbridge has been relatively unaffected by the turndown in oil across the rest of the province. So unlike the rest of Alberta, we are not just generally as dependent on oil and gas resources or businesses. So that food cluster, that food sector really helps us weather the storm.”
Lewington explained agriculture accounts for approximately 20 per cent of the city’s gross domestic product.
Some of the city’s largest private-sector employers are in the agri-food business, including Sunrise Poultry (480 employees as of 2015), Maple Leaf Pork (380), PepsiCo Foods (251), Cavendish Farms (171), and Richardson Oilseed (164). That doesn’t include support businesses.