The Saskatchewan Wild Rice Council says the industry seems to be on the upswing despite a poor harvest in some parts of the province.
Council chairman Lynn Riese says the eastern and western parts of northern Saskatchewan had good conditions for wild rice, but the central region was a different story.
Riese says the harvest was down because of high water levels in the spring and poor growing conditions in the summer:
“The overall picture for Canada is that we are more than likely down about 40% — and most of it was right in our area, where we are down 70% or so. So, hopefully, it comes back next year.”
Riese adds that other areas which had a good wild rice crop had other challenges:
“They did pretty well, there was a little shortage of labour in different areas, I’ve had members complain they couldn’t get workers, but it seems to be a thing that happens all the time. But I think we got most of the crop off that was out there.”
Riese says efforts continue to establish China as a market for wild rice.