The City of Yorkton is looking to attract foreign investment and hopes a report presented at the regular meeting of Council Monday lays the foundation for that to happen.
Michael Eger, Director of Planning, Building, and Development with the city, explained it was in December 2024 when Yorkton – in collaboration with the Yorkton Tribal Council – applied for a Community Investment Grant through CanExport.
This grant supported training on Foreign Direct Investment Attraction and funds the creation of a comprehensive FDI Attraction Strategy for the Yorkton Region.
With the grant dollars approved, the city engaged IMK Strategies from Germany for its expertise in developing FDI strategies, particularly in the agri-processing and agri-tech sectors, said Eger.
The report circulated Monday provides greater detail on the effort.
“The City of Yorkton commissioned this Foreign Direct Investment Attraction Strategy to support economic diversification, job creation, and long-term competitiveness, while positioning the city to access external funding such as CanExport Community Investments. The Strategy is grounded in supply-and demand-side analysis and reflects current investor behaviour and market trends,” detailed the executive summary.
“This strategy moves beyond analysis to provide a clear, implementable roadmap. It recommends where Yorkton should focus its efforts, how investment attraction activities should be delivered, and how FDI attraction in these sectors can contribute to measurable economic and community outcomes aligned with federal and provincial priorities.”
The project was to deliver a practical, evidence-based, and actionable FDI Attraction Strategy for the City of Yorkton, with clear priorities, target sectors, and an implementation roadmap to guide future investment promotion and outreach activities.
The report highlighted a number of positives the city can build on.
For example, it noted, “the city’s industrial profile is dominated by agri-processing, which continues to expand through investments by major players such as Louis Dreyfus Company and Richardson International. These anchor firms have established Yorkton as a regional production hub with significant upstream and downstream linkages. Interviewees highlighted that the region also possesses strong knowledge and expertise in agri-value-add, which supports the potential for further development along the supply chain.
And, “Yorkton’s transport and logistics infrastructure is considered a major competitive asset. The Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway and freight rail access provide strong connectivity to national and export markets. Utilities are reliable, and the industrial park is generally well-equipped, although nearing capacity.”
The report would go on to suggest focusing on three investment areas; value-added agriculture/agri-processing, logistics and distribution and agtech/automation.
“While those three sectors should be prioritized for proactive targeting, that does not mean that the remaining sectors should be neglected entirely,” included the report.
The material also suggested where the city might look for the investment it seeks.
“Across the three priority sectors, we recommend that Yorkton focus proactive outreach on Europe and selected Indo-Pacific markets, while maintaining an active, deal-responsive presence in the United States (while there is currently economic and political uncertainty in the US, it is still a very significant source of FDI for Canada, and should not be forgotten given its proximity, scale, and the likelihood of cross-border expansions),” it detailed.
Eger said a number of related initiatives follow the report all with associated cost that the city hopes to access a grant to cover 60 per cent of those costs.
The work includes creation of a community/investment profile and videos at a cost of an estimated $60,000, the city paying 40 per cent.
The next step would be to create key foreign direct investment strategies in three key identified area, said Eger that would cost the city an estimated $48,000.
The FDI activities would be funded from the Economic Development Reserve account, which currently holds approximately $145,000.
If all activities are financed solely from this reserve, and it remains undiminished by other initiatives, the account is expected to support FDI attraction efforts, in conjunction with the CanExport Grant, for the next six years should Council decide to move forward with all recommendations made in the FDI Attraction Strategy, detailed the circulated report.
Eger said a grant to fund what comes next may be available, and Council would pass a motion to direct administration to submit a CanExport Community Investment Application for additional dollars.
