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Statistical summary of Ontario agriculture

Data on primary agriculture in Ontario. Includes number of farm operators, farm area and major crops.

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Farm statistics (number)

2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 census
Item	2001	2006	2011	2016
Number of farm operators	85,020	82,410	74,840	70,470
Total number of farms	59,728	57,211	51,950	49,600
Number of farms with sales over $25,000	32,980	31,883	30,589	31,688
Number of farms with sales over $100,000	18,576	17,965	17,680	18,670
Number of farms with sales over $250,000	8,989	10,000	10,695	11,648
Farms reporting under 53 hectares	29,638	29,710	27,201	26,418
Farms reporting 53 to 161 hectares	21,279	18,648	16,230	14,882
Farms reporting 162 hectares and over	8,811	8,853	8,519	8,300

Farm statistics (hectares)

2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 census
Item	2001	2006	2011	2016
Total area of Farms	5,466,233	5,386,453	5,126,653	4,997,245
Total cropland	3,656,705	3,660,941	3,613,821	3,650,789
Summer fallow	14,235	11,895	9,490	6,428
Pasture	844,977	753,681	661,081	525,174
Christmas tree area, woodland and wetland	-	750,355	652,533	624,283
All other land	950,316	209,581	189,728	190,570
Total area owned (historical basis)	3,793,190	3,597,531	3,622,767	3,539,602
Total area rented or crop shared (historical basis)	1,673,043	1,788,922	1,643,398	1,583,829

Hired farm labour (number)

2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 census
Item	2001	2006	2011	2016
Farms reporting any hired labour	24,013	20,837	16,119	12,305

Hired farm labour (weeks)

2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 census
Item	2001	2006	2011	2016
Year-round labour	1,376,166	1,392,257	1,405,252	-
Seasonal labour	911,030	878,920	812,057	-
Total labour	2,287,196	2,271,177	2,217,309	-

Area grown to major field crops (hectares)

2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 census
Item	2001	2006	2011	2016
Hay	1,013,343	1,037,062	840,901	696,551
Soybeans	909,922	872,455	997,497	1,126,419
Grain corn	810,595	638,538	822,465	874,932
Winter wheat	220,707	416,209	445,155	437,213
Silage corn	129,242	129,807	109,953	119,649
Barley	124,938	89,447	51,347	41,973
Spring wheat	50,779	82,112	46,394	48,757
Mixed grain	88,329	70,194	42,962	37,570
Dry field beans	49,299	61,775	37,477	52,872
Oats	41,144	53,399	28,749	33,268
Fall rye	26,919	25,565	13,328	22,074
Tobacco	23,607	12,816	-	-
Canola	14,746	7,517	35,525	16,002

Number of livestock and poultry on farms ('000 head or '000 birds)

2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 census
Item	2001	2006	2011	2016
Dairy cows	364	330	318	312
Beef cows	376	377	282	236
Steers	332	312	291	306
All heifers	449	414	373	328
Calves	595	527	457	424
Total cattle and calves	2,141	1,983	1,741	1,624
Sows and gilts	356	418	281	314
Total pigs	3,457	3,951	3,089	3,534
Total sheep and lambs	338	311	353	321
Broilers and roasters	27,931	29,151	31,901	33,818
Laying hens and pullets	17,469	14,950	13,207	14,648
Turkeys	3,403	3,556	3,484	3,772

Area of major fruit crops (hectares)

2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 census
Item	2001	2006	2011	2016
Grapes	7,368	8,335	7,439	7,575
Apples	9,814	8,162	6,406	6,432
Peaches	2,677	3,195	2,612	2,117
Strawberries	2,024	1,717	1,329	1,180
Sour cherries	936	1,030	948	858
Pears	1,080	1,030	560	510
Plums and prunes	546	498	435	396
Raspberries	526	467	365	275
Sweet cherries	402	384	233	176

Area of major vegetable crops (hectares)

2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 census
Item	2001	2006	2011	2016
Sweet corn	19,837	15,628	10,336	9,271
Potatoes	17,562	15,441	15,129	14,037
Green peas	9,432	8,693	6,119	6,583
Tomatoes (excluding greenhouse)	8,580	8,173	6,701	6,371
Green and wax beans	5,275	4,807	3,717	3,938
Carrots	3,590	4,044	3,988	3,926
Pumpkin and squash	3,142	3,762	3,338	4,248
Dry onions	2,681	2,805	2,613	2,422
Cucumbers (excluding greenhouse)	2,671	1,678	1,410	1,827
Peppers	1,664	1,625	1,575	2,015
Broccoli	1,157	1,502	1,824	1,725
Cabbage	1,674	1,500	1,357	1,485
Asparagus	913	1,313	1,110	1,377

Area of greenhouse crops ('000 sq m)

2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 census
Item	2001	2006	2011	2016
Vegetables	4,434	6,485	8,009	10,395
Flowers	4,056	4,591	3,957	3,683

Machinery on farms (number)

2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 census
Item	2001	2006	2011	2016
Tractors	183,704	185,576	171,406	165,042
Combines	17,677	15,982	14,282	-
Balers	35,385	33,052	28,916	-
Farms reporting computers for farm management	23,552	26,260	30,381	27,904

Farm capital value ($ million)

2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 census
Item	2001	2006	2011	2016
Market value of land and buildings	40,898	55,912	75,818	118,298
Machinery and equipment	6,564	7,076	7,616	9,532
Livestock and poultry	3,067	2,349	2,269	3,955

Farm income statistics ($ million)

2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 census
Item	2001	2006	2011	2016
+ Total crop receipts	3,178	3,851	5,631	6,612
+ Total livestock receipts	4,520	4,351	5,214	6,017
= Total market receipts	7,698	8,202	10,845	12,629
+ Total payments	777	662	282	338
Total farm cash receipts	8,475	8,864	11,127	12,967
- Operating expenses after rebates	6,942	7,590	9,093	10,208
= Net cash income (receipts less expenses)	1,533	1,274	2,034	2,759
- Depreciation	11	10	9	12
+ Income-in-kind	1,017	1,126	1,313	1,487
= Realized net farm income	527	158	730	1,284

Top commodities in terms of market receipts ($ million)

2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 census
Item	2001	2006	2011	2016
Dairy products	1,369	1,591	1,895	1,975
Vegetables (including greenhouse)	738	987	1,272	1,621
Soybeans	449	937	1,077	1,664
Corn	388	868	1,338	1,250
Cattle and calves	1,252	846	1,028	1,314
Floriculture and nursery	755	634	784	796
Poultry	612	547	891	977
Hogs	946	454	902	1,119
Eggs	211	292	301	391
Wheat	102	213	315	234
Fruit	224	192	203	263
Potatoes	72	178	103	117
Dry beans	22	90	70	77

Reference

Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture.

Updated: July 23, 2025

Published: May 18, 2022