Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

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Find out how AAFC researchers and scientists are working to improve Canadian food and agriculture.

Facts About Canadian Farming

97 per cent of Canada’s farms are family owned and run.

• The average Canadian farm was 820 acres in 2016, up from 779 acres in 2011, and 237 in 1941. Technology means that farmers can produce more food and manage larger farms than in the past.
• Farms are diverse: Ontario has the most farms, but Saskatchewan’s are the biggest, and British Columbia has the largest number of small farms (those producing less than $10,000 in gross annual income). Canadian farms grow and raise everything from bison, alpacas, and mink, to lavender, grapes, greenhouse vegetables, and hazelnuts.
• Canada feeds the world: we are the fifth largest exporter of agricultural and agri-food products in the world.
• Crop rotation is planning out the sequence of different crops to plant on the same field each year. This is done to keep the soil in good health and use different soil nutrients each year.
• Back in 1901, each farmer could feed 10 people. Today’s farmers each produce enough food to feed 120 people! Technological advancements have made it easier to produce more food with less work.
• Did you know that one out of every eight jobs in Canada is related to agriculture?
• The top three crops grown in Canada (by volume and value) are wheat, canola and barley.