Guide to the Census of Agriculture, 2021

Released: 2022-04-14

On May 11, 2022, Statistics Canada will unveil the farm and farm operator data for the 2021 Census of Agriculture. This multifaceted release will provide users with a variety of interactive and user-friendly analytical products.

Guide to the Census of Agriculture, 2021

Today, Statistics Canada is pleased to announce the release of the Guide to the Census of Agriculture, 2021. This guide improves the data user experience by providing specific information about the Census of Agriculture program. It includes an overview of the program's content determination, data collection, processing, data quality evaluation and dissemination operations. It also summarizes key changes to the Census of Agriculture.

Change in the definition of a farm

One of those key changes is the new conceptual definition of a farm or agricultural holding. To better compare agriculture data across Statistics Canada programs, a new definition of a farm based on revenues and expenses from tax data is used for the 2021 Census of Agriculture.

This change will provide results that are more reflective of business operations involved in agriculture, but it also means that comparisons of farm counts with those of previous censuses should be interpreted with caution.

Before 2021, a farm was defined as an agricultural operation that produced at least one agricultural product intended for sale.

Products

The Guide to the Census of Agriculture, 2021 is now available on the Statistics Canada website.

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).