Every once in a while we are clearly reminded that Yorkton remains very much a service centre for agriculture.
And without that crucial role the local city economy would be far smaller than it currently is.
Certainly in terms of being a collection point for farm production the success story in recent years is near legendary, at least in terms of Saskatchewan.
The local community has been both the birth place of an oat processing plant currently operated by Grain Millers, and more recently TA Foods which is processing flaxseed for its oil.
And then along came the day when two canola crushing plants were announced for the city and immediate area on the same day.
The announcement was one many doubted would actually transpire, expecting one company, or the other, to flinch and pull away from their plan.
Neither did and now Richardson Oilseed and LDM Foods collects canola from farmers across most on Manitoba and Saskatchewan sending out railcars of canola meal and oil.
In the process the two canola crushing facilities spurred significant growth in the city through job creation and spin-offs.
Then there has been the impact of farm manufacturing led by Morris Industries and Leon’s Manufacturing.
Now we are seeing economic stimulus from agriculture from the retail side of things.
Today, (Wednesday) in the Rural Municipality of Orkney near the city Rocky Mountain Equipment will hold a ground breaking ceremony for a new dealership location.
The Case IH dealership has a planned $13.5 million development planned which will ensure it is ready to serve an extended rural area in terms of farm equipment.
At the same time Maple Farm Equipment also has a new dealership location planned. The 58,000 square-foot John Deere dealership on the City’s west side will do the same thing for that company in terms of serving the farm community into the future.
With such major farm equipment developments taking place it will mean farmers will see Yorkton as a place to buy their equipment, and while here to do that, they will do other business as well, and that will ripple through the local economy.
It may not always seem like farming matters as it once did in our city, but the evidence certainly shows it does.
