Canada's agriculture sector is doing quite well compared to other sectors in the economy.

That from Glen Hodgson, senior fellow with the Conference Board of Canada, who spoke last week at CropConnect in Winnipeg.

"It's had the most spectacular productivity growth rates of any sector in our economy," he said. "It means that from your basic producer on the ground to the whole value chain, they found a way to stay competitive. They realized that they're in a very competitive global industry and they've got to keep costs under control and the way to stay profitable is to be nimble. The evidence is clear, the ag sector is more nimble than almost everybody else."

In its provincial outlook for this year, Hodgson notes the Conference Board is expecting to see growth of about two per cent for Manitoba.

He says Manitoba's economy has always done well compared to most other provinces, due to its diversity.