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"Clearly, Alberta has some of the most innovative and hardy farmers in the country," said Shirley McClellan, Deputy Premier and Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. "While they were suffering from one of the driest years on record, they still managed to maintain our position and even grow in some categories." McClellan was commenting on recently released Statistics Canada figures that complete the picture of the 2002 agriculture year.
While there were some declines, most notably in the crops sector, Alberta's livestock industry hit record levels in 2002. Beef production was at record levels, increasing to well over 800,000 tonnes of carcass and box beef. Dairy production also increased by five per cent, to $367 million in 2002. The crop sector was hardest hit by the drought, declining nearly eight per cent to $2.1 billion.
The food and beverage manufacturing industry remained Alberta's largest manufacturing sector at $9.8 billion, accounting for 24 per cent of the total provincial manufacturing shipments and employing nearly 20 per cent of all persons in the manufacturing sector in the province.
More information can be found on Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development's web page at http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/, under statistics.
Contact:
Reynold Jaipaul (780) 427-5376
Terry Willock (780) 422-7683
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