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In this post, I use data from the 2021 Census of Agriculture to show the distribution of crop and livestock farms across Canada. You will see that farms concentrate along the Saint Lawrence River Valley, by the Great Lakes and in the Prairies. Elsewhere, farm concentration is spotty.

I plan on writing again on the geographic locations of farms and perform some analyses. I do not know yet what form they will take. There are data available on infrastructures and the environment and I may combine them to create interesting and original maps. Hence, a role of this post is to prepare for future posts.

What is a farm?

That is the question. Definitions vary across countries, over time and purpose. Statistics Canada changed the definition of a farm in the 2021 Census of Agriculture. Before 2021, a farm was defined as an agricultural operation that produced at least one product intended for sale. The new definition from the 2021 Census of Agriculture says:

A farm is a unit that produces agricultural products and reports revenues or expenses for tax purposes to the Canada Revenue Agency.

The definition of a farm has changed several times in the Census of Agriculture and for that reason comparing the number of farms over time does not offer a consistent picture. It is nonetheless informative of long-term trends.

Below I will map farms according to whether they are classified as crop or livestock farms. The classification follows the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). According to NAICS, a crop farm is an establishment for which 50% or more of its production consists of crops. Correspondingly, a livestock farm is an establishment for which 50% or more of its production consists of animal production or aquaculture. I take that production is measured on the basis of revenue.

Maps

I obtained 2021 Census of agriculture data from Statistics Canada table 32-10-0231. The table gives the number of farms by NAICS up to 6 digits. I will use only the first three digits to determine whether farms are classified as crop or livestock farms. I plan on mapping farms using finer definitions in futures posts.

The Census data give the number farms by standard geographic areas. The smallest area available, used to make the maps below, is the census consolidated subdivision which is defined as a group of adjacent census subdivisions within a census division. The area covered by a census consolidated subdivision is relatively small in populated areas.

The data do not give the exact locations of farms. For that reason, the figures below are dot distribution maps where each dot represents one farm randomly located within the census consolidated subdivision it belongs to. Given that the census consolidated subdivisions where farms are located are small for most of the maps below, it will not matter that I do not have their exact locations to show geographic concentration. All farms, big or small, are represented within a map by a dot of the same size. Dot size varies across map according to the scale. The dots are partially transparent such that superposed dots become darker, showing a greater concentration of farms.

I locate farms only within the agricultural ecumene. Statistics Canada defines the agricultural ecumene as the areas where the country’s main agricultural activities take place. Limiting the random placement of farms at the intersection of their census consolidated subdivisions and the agricultural ecumene means that farms will be located on the maps in areas where we can expect to find them.

Note that the scales on the maps below will vary depending on the province. This can give of incorrect perception of the concentration of farms across provinces. For that reason, the maps should not be used to compare farm density across provinces. The map for all Canada at the end can be used to compare farm density across Canada.

Newfoundland and Labrador

According to the Census, there were 344 farms in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2021. Farms are located on the coast with the largest concentration around Saint John in the East. There are farms in Labrador but I suspect that most are greenhouses.

Prince Edward Island

Canada’s smallest province had 1,105 farms according to the 2021 Census. The agricultural ecumene covers most of Prince Edward Island. The distribution of farms is quite uniform and similar for crop and livestock farms.

Nova Scotia

The 2,741 farms in Nova Scotia are spread across the province. Most farms are on the western part of the peninsula covered by the agricultural ecumene.

New Brunswick

The distribution of the 1,851 farms in New Brunswick is spotty, with several small agricultural ecumene areas across the province.

Quebec

The Census counted 29,380 farms in Quebec in 2021. Most of them are in the south, in the Saint Lawrence River Valley. There are concentrations of farms in other regions like Lake Saint-Jean and Abitibi.

Ontario

Ontario has the most farms in Canada with a total 48,346. Most of them are in the southern part of the province along Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. There are farms further north in a few small areas. The map shows the greater concentration of crop farms compared to livestock farms.

Manitoba

Most of the 14,543 farms in Manitoba are in the south of the province that is part of the Canadian Prairies. There are significantly more crop farms than livestock farms.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan had 34,128 farms in 2021 according to the Census of Agriculture. The southern third of the province is part of the Prairies, with farms across the area. There are two and a half more crop farms than livestock farms. Two thirds of Saskatchewan farms are oilseed and grain farms, mostly producing canola and wheat.

Alberta

Alberta is the province with the second-largest number of farms with 41,505 farms according to the 2021 Census of agriculture. There is almost an equal number of crop and livestock farms. There is a greater concentration of livestock farms in the Western part of the province. Agriculture goes surprisingly far north with several farms along the Peace River Valley.

British Columbia

The 15,841 farms in British Columbia are distributed across several small regions. The greater concentrations of farms are in the Okanagan Valley, at the mouth of the Fraser River, and on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island. There is also a concentration of farms in the northeast part of the province, in the Peace River Valley.

Canada

Finally, here is the complete picture for the 189,874 farms in Canada. The maps show the largest concentration of farms is along the Saint-Lawrence River valley and by the Great Lakes in Southern Ontario.

Farmland in Canada covered 153.7 million acres in 2021, which might appear large. However, it represents about 6.2% of Canada’s total land and less than 20% of the United States farmland.

Conclusion

I plan on making more maps in the future. I think there are interesting analyses to perform with these data. If you have any suggestion of what you’d like to see mapped, please reach out to me.

The next blog post will likely be in September.