The concept of diversification for Western Canadian agriculture was pretty much the mantra of both government and farm groups for the better part of the 1990s, but was it a successful vision for the industry?
That is a question of some considerable conjecture, depending upon how one envisions it.
On the crops side of farming, we have certainly seen a few crops gain major interest and acreage - in particular legume crops, with lentils and peas leading the way. There is also interest now emerging for soybeans in non-traditional growing areas.
That said, this space once focused on the potential of lupines to become a significant crop, and pinto beans were heralded in the same way. Neither has turned out to be widely grown.
You can add quinoa, echinacea, fenugreek, sea buckthorn and industrial hemp as other crops that were suggested as potential options, and that for the most part, did not turn out to be more than a passing fad.
Of course a field crop is basically a one-year experiment. Farmers grow a crop, see what the market returns are, then add it to the rotation on a permanent basis, or move on to something else.
When you turn your attention to the livestock side of farming, the time investment grows substantially.
You do not build a flock of ostrich or a herd of fallow deer overnight.
Initially, breeding stock is in short supply when the next hot farm animal bursts onto the scene, and farmers are left with major cash investments followed by years of herd building.
They must hope a market has developed, and the end product - what is sold to market rather than for breeding - is such there is a profit to be realized.
For the most part livestock diversification has been a dismal failure.
You would drive a lot of miles to find a farmer on the Prairies still raising ostrich, emu, and fallow deer.
Llamas, elk, and other species have survived, but you can't really call them widely successful either.
So when you meet someone being successful in an area in which most have not been, it is interesting. The successes show perseverance, and generally a willingness to build market, not just raise the stock.
At a time almost every other breeder in Saskatchewan has given up, Joy Popowich of Saltcoats has done that by managing to find ways to make her meat rabbits profitable.
Polly Schindel from Lintlaw has done much the same as she and her husband Bob have developed one of Saskatchewan's largest alpaca herds.
While alpaca fleece produces a high quality fibre, there has never been a large processor here to help develop a market, and so the industry has struggled. It seems stuck at that point where a processor is needed to grow numbers, but numbers are needed for a major processor to be viable.
Schindel has ignored the impasse by having processing done out of province, and the yarn then turned into garments that she direct markets. It's more work than growing a field of wheat and taking it to the elevator, or raising a calf and selling it to a feedlot.
But it is also a way of developing a market for something new that you believe in.
While in general terms diversification has failed more than farmers would have hoped, mainly because of a lack of viable processors and markets, there are examples of producers who have made it work. It may not be the producing and hauling to market-style farming most are used to it, but it can carve out niches that can raise the returns of the farm.
