Sturgeon County has a large tract of highly productive agricultural land that supplies locally-produced food to a growing regional market. This is augmented by value added activities such as processing, packaging, distribution and retail food sales.
Crop Operations
While conventional field crops such as canola, barley, alfalfa, wheat, and oats dominate most agricultural lands, there is also active nursery stock and fruit crop operations in the area. Livestock farm operations are also common, mostly consisting of cattle, pigs, and sheep. Most of the land in the County is privately owned and some lands are leased to large farm operators – often to test crops, or utilized as farming incubators to establish businesses.
Sector Products
Raw Commodities:
Poultry inventory - 2,532,963
Hog inventory - 16,979 heads
Cattle and Calves inventory - 27,184 heads
Sheep and Lamp Inventory - 3,187 heads
Total grans: 157,111 acres*
*canola: 130,000 acres; wheat: 97,000 acres; barley: 44,000 acres; alfalfa and alfalfa mixtures: 40,459 acres
Value Added Agriculture Product and Service Segments include:
Premium pelletized animal feed
Crop protection products and nutrients
Allergen free specialty products
Edible oils and milled-grain food products
Bulk commodity warehousing
Major Companies
The agribusiness sector is diverse and supplies a large and varied number of industries and consumer groups with products and services.
Major companies include:
Sector Opportunities
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is working with businesses to build a globally competitive plant-based specialty chemical ingredient industry in Alberta. This will drive business development and investment for growth of a globally competitive and sustainable renewable bioproducts industry.
Sturgeon County has a large volume of by-products for developing unique, high quality pumps using post-harvest agricultural residues from cereals, hemp and oilseeds. Fibre is a growing opportunity to satisfy growing demand for environmentally sustainable products including: bio-composite plastics, electrical energy (biogas, syngas), textiles and transportation fuels such as diesel and ethanol.
Programs and Support
There are several programs available to provide support for new business development in Sturgeon County. These include the Matching Investment Fund, AgriInvest, AgriMarketing - SME Component, and Micro-Voucher Program/Voucher Program/Product Demonstration Program.