Fruit and vegetable production, 2024

Released: 2025-02-17

The farm-gate value of fruits and vegetables increased by 2.5% year over year to $3.0 billion in 2024. Higher vegetable sales (+5.5%) more than offset a decline in fruit sales (-1.3%).

Canada's total fruit and vegetable production was up 3.3% to 3.3 billion kilograms, supported by a rise in fruit yields (+10.6%) and vegetable yields (+3.7%). Contrasting climatic conditions across the country had varying effects on fruit and vegetable production.

In British Columbia, grapes, sweet cherries, apricots and other fruits suffered severe winter damage, leading to a sharp decline in marketable fruit production. Meanwhile, Quebec experienced higher yields for apples, cranberries and grapes.

While Eastern Canada experienced higher fruit yields, prices for processing fruits remained persistently low, particularly for wild blueberries.

Chart 1 
Farm-gate value of fruits and vegetables

Fruit production blossoms in Quebec but withers in British Columbia in wake of cold snap

At the national level, marketed fruit production rose by 3.6% year over year to 903 million kilograms in 2024, driven by significant increases in highbush blueberries (+37.9%), cranberries (+25.6%) and strawberries (+17.7%).

Extreme winter temperature fluctuations can increase the vulnerability of certain fruit crops, making them more susceptible to damage. In British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, record-low temperatures in mid-January, following an unusually warm start to winter, severely damaged fruit trees and vineyards. As a result, production of apricots declined by 85.5%, that of grapes, by 83.7%, and that of sweet cherries, by 70.1%.

Conversely, highbush blueberry production rose sharply by 40.0%, rebounding from the decline recorded in 2023 and nearing the 10-year average.

Meanwhile, Quebec had an excellent year for cranberries (+66.8%), grapes (+46.4%) and apples (+33.5%) (link in French only) in 2024, contributing significantly to the overall production increase.

Apples accounted for 24.5% of the total fruit-farm gate value in Canada, followed by cranberries (15.6%) and highbush blueberries (14.0%). Apple sales were primarily concentrated in Ontario (43.2%), Quebec (26.7%), British Columbia (16.8%) and Nova Scotia (11.3%). Nova Scotia apple production is recovering after several years of weather-related challenges, including the damage caused by tropical storm Fiona in 2022.

In 2024, Quebec (71.7%) accounted for the largest share of national total cranberry sales, while British Columbia (86.0%) dominated highbush blueberry sales.

Vegetable production bounces back

Eastern Canada's vegetable production bounced back in 2024 from challenging wet growing conditions in 2023.

In 2024, the leading vegetable commodities by marketed quantity included field tomatoes (23.3% of total vegetable production), carrots (15.1%), sweet corn (8.5%), regular cabbages (5.9%) and pumpkins (3.2%).

Production yields increased year over year for sweet corn (+7.7%), regular cabbages (+7.3%), tomatoes (+4.2%), carrots (+4.1%) and pumpkins (+0.9%).

Vegetable production was highly concentrated in Ontario (+44.5%) and Quebec (+38.2%). Combined, they accounted for over four-fifths of the total farm-gate value.

Total vegetable sales increased in every province except British Columbia (-6.1%) and Manitoba (-2.7%).

Where Canada's fruits and vegetables are grown

The total fruit and vegetable cultivated area remained steady in 2024, at around 243 000 hectares.

Quebec (34.8%) and the Atlantic provinces (31.3%) each accounted for nearly one-third of the fruit cultivated area, while Ontario represented 13.7% and British Columbia represented 18.9%.

Ontario (49.2%) led vegetable production, accounting for just under half of the total cultivated area, followed by Quebec (36.8%), the Prairie provinces (5.3%) and the Atlantic provinces (3.6%).

Contact information

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