The 40th anniversary of  Manitoba Ag Days kicks off at the Keystone Centre in Brandon, Manitoba, this week (January 17-19, 2017). The event has expanded this year and features 550 exhibitors promoting agricultural technology, equipment and news.

Many of the province’s agribusinesses are based in Winnipeg (more than 2,200 of them), and the industry continues to cultivate growth for the city’s economy.

We’ve compiled a bumper crop of other stats to show just how big  agribusiness is in our Prairie town:

• Agribusiness represents 4.8 per cent of Winnipeg’s total GDP, an increase of 10 per cent over the last five years.
• 13,700 people are employed in Winnipeg’s agribusiness sector.
• 52 per cent of agribusiness employment is in the fields of food; beverage; and agricultural, chemical and machinery manufacturing.
• Total agribusiness revenues in Manitoba exceeded $12 billion in 2014 and increased by 5.4 per cent on average annually between 2009 and 2014. This exceeded the national rate of 4.6 per cent.
• Some of the biggest agribusiness companies in Winnipeg include  MacDon Industries Ltd., Buhler Industries Inc., Maple Leaf Foods and James Richardson and Sons.

For more information about Winnipeg’s agribusiness sector, check out our  website.