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On May 16, 2006, the Census of Agriculture counted 2,776 farms in New Brunswick, an 8.5% decrease during the past five years. This is slightly higher than the 7.1% decrease at the national level. On Census Day, there were 629 fewer farms in New Brunswick compared to 1996. A census farm is an agricultural operation that produces an agricultural product intended for sale.
New Brunswick accounted for 1.2% of Canada’s 229,373 farms in 2006, comparable to the share in 2001. New Brunswick’s total ranked eighth in Canada.
At the same time, New Brunswick reported 3,695 farm operators, a 5.1% decline from 2001.
Farms in New Brunswick averaged 352 acres of land in 2006, up from 316 acres five years earlier.
The total area of land on farms in New Brunswick increased 1.8% between 2001 and 2006 to 976,629 acres in 2006. It has less than 1% of the total farm area in Canada.
Farmers reported 375,590 acres of cropland in New Brunswick in 2006, slightly up from 367,898 acres in 2001. Cropland is the total area in field crops, fruits, vegetables, sod and nursery.
New Brunswick’s total gross farm receipts were $493.8 million in 2005, while operating expenses reached $423.0 million.
Government-funded program payments contributed significantly to gross farm receipts. Farmers themselves contribute to many of these programs by paying premiums much like any insurance plan. According to Statistics Canada data on direct program payments to agriculture producers, in 2000 for New Brunswick, 1.3% of receipts were from program payments; by 2005 the proportion had grown to 8.1%. The actual value of these payments increased from $5.6 million to $40.1 million (in current dollars) during this period.
According to the farm input price index (FIPI) and the farm product price index (FPPI), the inflation over this period on prices farmers had to pay for the inputs they purchased rose less quickly than the inflation on the prices they received for products they sold— 8.0% for inputs versus 10.5% for products sold. At the Canada level, farm input prices rose 8.6% while farm product prices rose only 1.7%.
Overall, improved efficiency, increased program payments, and higher production have helped to keep the ratios between expenses and receipts relatively stable. New Brunswick’s operators were spending an average of 86 cents in expenses (excluding depreciation) for every dollar of receipts in 2005, the same as in 2000.
The number of farms with less than $250,000 (at 2005 constant prices) of gross farm receipts declined by 10.0% between censuses and those with $250,000 or more (at 2005 constant prices) also decreased by 0.4%. There were 474 of these larger farms in New Brunswick in 2006, and while they only represented 17.1% of farms in the province, they accounted for 83.3% of total provincial gross farm receipts reported for the year 2005.
According to the census there were 239 farms with organic production in New Brunswick on census day, 8.6% of all farms in the province. Nationwide 6.8% of all farms reported organic production.
For the first time, farmers were able to report on their census forms the status of organic products grown or raised. Of the 239 farms reporting organic products in New Brunswick, 17.6% produced certified organic products, less than 1% were in transition to becoming certified and 82.0% produced organic products but were not certified by a Certifying Agency. Farms can report more than one organic status.
The predominant group of organic products grown in New Brunswick was fruits, vegetables or greenhouse products. They were reported on 44.4% of the province’s organic farms.
Of New Brunswick’s 3,695 farm operators in 2006, 20.8% were women, up from 18.0% five years earlier. Nationally, 27.8% of farm operators in 2006 were women.
In 2005, 46.7% of New Brunswick farmers worked more than 40 hours a week on their farm operations, equivalent to the share at the national level. Five years earlier, 45.8% of New Brunswick farmers worked more than 40 hours a week on their farms.
About 44.5% of all farm operators had an off-farm job or business in 2005, compared to 48.1% in 2000. At the national level, 48.4% of farm operators had an off-farm job or business.
In spring 2006, when the data from the 2006 Census of Agriculture were being collected, farmers were facing a spring that had been preceded by one challenge after another: bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), avian influenza, circovirus in pigs, falling commodity prices and the rising cost of fertilizers, fuels and other inputs. Since then, some commodity prices have improved, particularly those associated with alternative fuel sources, and even the beleaguered beef industry is showing some recovery after four years of BSE-inflicted hardship. It’s a situation that offers an important reminder that the Census of Agriculture is a snapshot of Canada’s agriculture sector every five years and that the census cannot measure the rapid changes that wax and wane between census years.
Statistics Canada would like to thank the farming community of New Brunswick for their participation and assistance in the 2006 Census of Agriculture.
For more information on this release, contact Gaye Ward (613-951-3172), Census of Agriculture, or Media Relations (613-951-4636).
Direct program payments to producers represent the amounts paid under various government agricultural programs to agriculture producers. Farmers themselves contribute to many of these programs by paying premiums much like any insurance plan.