Ontario ag: From the census

Overview

The 2016 Census of Agriculture counted 193,492 farms in Canada, a 5.9% decrease from the previous census in 2011. This rate of decline was the lowest in the last 20 years. As farm numbers have declined, the average area per farm has increased, growing from 779 acres in 2011 to an average of 820 acres in 2016.

Ontario accounted for over one-quarter of all of Canada’s farms. The 2016 Census of Agriculture counted 49,600 census farms in Ontario, a 4.5% drop since 2011. This rate of decline was less than the national rate and represented about half the rate recorded between 2006 and 2011 (-9.2%). Over the same period, the area of land in crops increased 1% to 9 million acres as operators converted land into productive area. In 2015, one-fifth of national gross farm receipts were generated by Ontario agricultural operations. Primary agriculture represented 0.8% of provincial gross domestic product (agricultural GDP) in 2013. This percentage increased to 3.8% when agricultural input and service providers, primary producers, food and beverage processors, and food retail and wholesale industries were taken into account.

In 1871, the first census after Confederation, the province had 172,258 farms and 16.2 million acres of farmland. By the end of the 19th century, Ontario field crop area was dominated by oats and wheat. Today, the average area per farm is nearly three times larger than in 1871 at 249 acres per farm. In 2016, Ontario was the biggest producer of soybeans and corn for grain in Canada, with corn for grain reaching 2.2 million acres, over 12 times higher than in 1891.

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Cash crops

Ontario continued to report the largest areas of both soybeans and corn for grain in the country. In 2016, Ontario accounted for 59.8% of national corn for grain area, and 49.6% of national soybean area. Both of these crops saw their acreage in Ontario grow since the last census. As in 2011, winter wheat held the third place in terms of area, despite a decline in area seeded. Crop rotations of corn and soybeans with a small grain such as wheat offer environmental and agronomic benefits, including boosting biodiversity and breaking pest cycles while also increasing nutrient utilization. This practice improves capital and labour utilization by staggering planting and harvest windows and helps to manage business risk by varying products and hedges against commodity specific environmental and disease pressures. Ontario ranked fourth among the provinces for total field crop area. Oilseed and grain type operations accounted for the largest number of farms in the province, with 34% of farms reporting.

Greenhouses, fruits, and vegetables