Agriculture plays an incredibly important role in the lives of Canadians across the country. Whether it be the cherry farms of British Columbia, grain mills of Saskatchewan, corn fields of Ontario, maple syrup harvesters of Quebec, or lobster fisheries of the Atlantic provinces, the agriculture and agri-food sector has a direct impact on all our lives while making sure we don't go hungry.
You’ll find many kinds of agricultural goods across Canada’s expansive and fertile lands. For example, highbush blueberries from British Columbia aren’t uncommon in grocery stores in Toronto. At the same time, you always see apples from Ontario on the shelves in Alberta. You’ll also find these products around the world as a result of trade with other nations, like the pulses and lentils of Saskatchewan imported by India -- the world's largest country by population.
Not only does the entire industry feed us here at home and millions of people abroad, but it also adds massive, irreplaceable value to the economy through billions of dollars worth of sales, exports and employment each year.
When you look at the numbers, the importance of the agricultural industry becomes clear. In 2023, for example, the entire agri-food and agriculture system:
- Employed 2.3 million people
- Supported 1 in 9 jobs nationwide
- Generated $150 billion (around 7%) of Canada’s GDP
Below we look at several other facts and figures about the Canadian agriculture industry: by the numbers! Please note, the main original source for these statistics (Natural Resources Canada – We Grow More Thank You Think) has since been indexed by the federal government and is no longer available online [1]. Not to worry, we’ve kept these interesting stats for your review below, and added some more while we’re at it!
- Lobster Fishing in Canada: 18 Facts
- Farming in British Columbia: 15 Facts
- Farming in Quebec: 19 Facts
- Farming in Ontario: 25 Facts
- Farming in Newfoundland & Labrador: 15 Facts
- Farming in Saskatchewan: 20 Facts
Major Agricultural Commodities by Province:
CourCou
Courtesy of Natural Resources Canada
Fruits & Vegetables in Canada: By the Numbers
> Horticulture, including vegetable and fruit production, generates about $8 billion worth of Canada’s farm cash receipts in 2023 [2]
> In the 1630s, the first apple tree in Canada was planted in Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia [3]
> Over 17,800 hectares of land across Canada produce apples [4]
> In total, more than 100 varieties of apples are grown across the country, with more than 20 types being important to global trade [5]
> More than $37 million worth of apples are exported every year [1]
> Canada produces so many apples, each Canadian could eat 10 kilograms of apples per year – or 100 apples per person [1]
> Canada is the world’s largest producer and exporter of lowbush berries, which is another name for wild blueberries, with most grown in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces [6]
> Canada is the world’s second-largest blueberry producer following the United States [7]
> British Columbia is one of the largest highbush blueberry growing regions in the world, producing about 96% of the Canadian production of this type of cultivated blueberries [8]
> Canadian farmers grow blueberries in 193,201 acres of land, the largest fruit area in the country [7]
> With more than $630 million in blueberry exports, the fruit continues to be Canada’s top fruit export and accounted for 57% of the country’s fruit export value in 2023 [4]
> Canada is the consistently the fourth-largest exporter of fresh or chilled mushrooms [9]
> Canada produced approximately 5.7 million metric tons of potatoes in 2022 [10]
> Canada exported more than $3.3 billion of potatoes and potato products in the 2022/2023 season [10]
> Canada exported 191 million kilograms (kg) of fresh or chilled tomatoes, valued at 611.7 million in 2022 [11]
> Canada also exported 30.9 million kg of ketchup and other tomato sauces in 2022, valued at $71.9 million [11]
> Canada harvested tomatoes on nearly 15,000 acres of land in 2023 [12] – equivalent to approximately 7,463 Canadian Football League (CFL) fields [13]
> The average Canadian consumes six to seven kg of tomatoes every year [14]
Grains & Seeds in Canada: By the Numbers
> Canada is the top producer and exporter of canola in the world, accounting for more than 30% of the world’s supply and 60% of global trade [15]
> 40,000 Canadian farmers produce about 20 million tonnes of canola annually [16]
> Canada’s canola value chain generated $43.7 billion in economic activity in Canada every year [16]
> In the 1960s, Canadian plant scientists and breeders in Saskatchewan and Manitoba developed canola [17]
> Canola is a trade powerhouse, exporting 90% of production – as seed, oil, and meal – totalling $15.8 billion in 2023 [18]
> Approximately 96% of Canadian corn crops are grown in the Eastern provinces of Ontario (63%, or 630,000 hectares) and Quebec (33%, or 330,000 hectares) [19]
> Corn is Canada’s third-largest grain crop after wheat and barley and is the most important economically for Eastern Canada [19]
> Quebec farmers planted 892,300 acres of corn for grain in 2022, up 0.7% versus 2021 [20]
> Over 10% of Canada’s total corn production is exported – around 1.4 billion kilograms each year [1]
> Canada exported $709 million of corn in 2022, making it the 13th largest exporter of corn in the world [21]
> Canada is the largest producer of flaxseed in the world, representing about 40% of global production [22]
> Canada is one of the world’s top wheat exporters, only behind the European Union and Russia for the 2024-25 crop year [23]
> Canada produced on average about 30 million tonnes of wheat each year; in 2023, we produced 32 million tonnes, a 6.9% drop from the previous year [24]
> Canada exports an average of $7 billion worth of wheat annually, much of which goes to the USA; in 2022, Canada exported $8.87 billion of wheat mainly to China, Japan, the U.S, Indonesia, and Columbia [25]
> Canada was the world’s 3rd largest producer of mustard seed in 2021 [26]
> Canadian farmers planted 224,500 hectares of mustard seed in 2022, most of which was in Saskatchewan [27]
> Canada is the world’s largest producer and exporter of lentils, selling to 80-100 countries every year; approximately 90% of Canada’s total production is from Saskatchewan [28]
Dairy Products in Canada: By the Numbers
> Canada is home to more than 9,443 dairy farms across the country [29]
> Canada’s dairy industry – including production and processing – accounts for 215,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs and generate economic spin-offs totalling $15 billion annually [29]
> Canada’s dairy sector also generates $3 billion in tax revenue for municipal, federal, and provincial governments every year [29]
> The average Canadian consumes 13 kilograms of cheese, 11 litres of yogurt, 5 litres of ice cream and 72 litres of milk annually [1]
> Each year, the average dairy cow produces 8,000 litres of milk, enough to provide 110 Canadians with their average annual consumption [30]
> About 962,000 dairy cows are found throughout Canada [31]
Livestock & Seafood in Canada: By the Numbers
> Canada was home to 12.13 million cattle and calves on 71,380 farms and ranches in 2023 [32]
> Alberta accounts for approximately 43% of Canada’s inventory of cattle and calves [32]
> Over 3.5 million cattle and nearly 200,000 calves are slaughtered in federally and provincially inspected establishments in Canada [32]
> Canada produced 1.29 million tonnes of beef and 32,630 tonnes of veal in 2023 [32]
> Canada exported 734,165 head of cattle and calves valued at $1.7 billion in 2023 [32]
> Canada exported 498,939 tonnes of beef and veal valued at $5.02 billion in 2023 [32]
> Canada’s cattle sector generated $14.9 billion in farm cash receipts from the sale of cattle and calves in 2023 [32]
> Canada was home to 13.91 million hogs on 7,160 farms in 2023 [33]
> Quebec (31%), Ontario (26%) and Manitoba (24%) accounted for 81% of Canada’s hog inventory in 2023 [33]
> Canada slaughtered more than 21.7 million hogs in provincially and federally inspected establishments in 2023 [33]
> Canada produced 2.29 million tonnes of pork in 2023 [33]
> Canada’s total hog exports were valued at more than $5.3 billion in 2023 [33]
> Canada’s fish and seafood sector includes more than 160 species produced through wild capture (marine and freshwater) or aquaculture methods (in land or at sea) [34]
> Canada exports more than $7 billion in seafood products every year, making the industry a critical economic sector [34]
Other Agricultural Products in Canada: By the Numbers
> About 80% of the world’s maple syrup is produced in Canada [35]
> Over 6,300 maple farms exist in Canada, about 90% of which are found in Quebec [36]
Couldn’t agree more.
— Canada Action (@CanadaAction) December 1, 2024
It’s time to cheer for the home team. #CdnPoli #BuildCanadaUp pic.twitter.com/0zQMLNgQEI
SOURCES:
1 - https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.652678/publication.html (landing page no longer exists)
2 - https://www.ourcommons.ca/documentviewer/en/44-1/AGRI/report-20/page-78#:~:text=The%20edible%20horticultural%20sector%20is%20a%20significant,billion%20in%20farm%20cash%20receipts%20in%202023.
3 - https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/canadas-long-history-of-apple-growing/
4 - https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/sector/horticulture/reports/statistical-overview-canadian-fruit-industry-2023
5 - https://westerncoastinsurance.ca/Apple-Day
6 - https://publications.gc.ca/site/archivee-archived.html?url=https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2011/agr/A15-11509-2011-eng.pdf
7 - https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/5475-great-canadian-blueberry-pancake
8 - https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2016AGRI0035-001188
9 - https://wits.worldbank.org/trade/comtrade/en/country/ALL/year/2023/tradeflow/Exports/partner/WLD/product/070951
10 - https://agriculture.canada.ca/sites/default/files/documents/2023-12/potato_mi_review_2022_2023_en.pdf
11 - https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/4182-you-say-tomato-we-say-statistics
12 - https://www.statista.com/statistics/453607/area-of-tomatoes-harvested-in-canada/
13 - https://math.answers.com/team-sports/How_many_acres_in_a_Canadian_football_field
14 - https://troymedia.com/business/our-agri-food-world-is-about-to-get-a-whole-lot-smaller/
15 - https://albertacanola.com/about/canola-statistics/
16 - https://www.canolacouncil.org/about-canola/industry/
17 - https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/96-325-x/2007000/article/10778-eng.htm
18 - https://www.ccga.ca/advocacy/trade
19 - https://publications.gc.ca/site/archivee-archived.html?url=https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2009/agr/A118-10-13-2006E.pdf
20 - https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/1526-corn-sweet-corn
21 - https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/corn/reporter/can
22 - https://www.saskflax.com/industry/index.php
23 - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/canada-wheat-exports-world-1.7365457
24 - https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/231204/dq231204a-eng.htm
25 - https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/wheat/reporter/can
26 - https://www.helgilibrary.com/charts/which-country-produces-the-most-mustard-seeds/
27 - https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/4280-world-canada-pass-mustard
28 - https://saskpulse.com/growing-pulses/lentils/lentil-market-opportunities/
29 - https://dairyfarmersofcanada.ca/en/dairy-in-canada
30 - https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/dairy-farming
31 - https://www.statista.com/statistics/442302/cattle-inventory-by-type-canada/
32 - https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/sector/animal-industry/red-meat-and-livestock-market-information/cattlebeef-and-veal
33 - https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/sector/animal-industry/red-meat-and-livestock-market-information/hogs-pork
34 - https://www.tradecommissioner.gc.ca/sectors-secteurs/fish-and-seafood-poissons-et-fruits-de-mer.aspx?lang=eng
35 - https://globalnews.ca/news/3434302/maple-syrup-canada/
36 - https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/sector/horticulture/reports/statistical-overview-canadian-maple-industry-2023