Chapter 4
- Area in field vegetables decreased
- Greenhouse area expanded
- Blueberries and cranberries increased in area
- Beekeepers mostly in the west
- Sod and nursery industries in sync with housing
- Maple taps increased
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Area in field vegetables decreased
Total vegetable area in Canada declined 13.5% since the 2006 Census, to 267,665 acres in 2011.
Sweet corn continued to lead in field vegetable area
Sweet corn area decreased by 23.3% since 2006, largely due to a decline in the processing sector. However it remained the number one vegetable crop in Canada, representing 21.4% of the total vegetable area in Canada (Figure 22).
Figure 22: Area grown for selected field vegetables, Canada, 2006 and 2011
Decrease in area of vegetables for the processing sector
Over the last five years, several factors including a strong Canadian dollar and increasing imports affected both the fresh and processing vegetable markets.
Since 2006, many vegetable processing plants closed their doors, thus reducing the market for processing vegetables. Although production area of vegetables primarily intended for the food processing sector decreased, area intended for some fresh vegetables remained stable or even increased slightly. Those which increased in area included beets, Brussels sprouts, Chinese cabbage, as well as other vegetables less commonly reported, such as Asian vegetables.
Ontario farms remained top vegetable growers
A decrease in the total area of field vegetables occurred in almost all provinces. Areas in vegetables in Ontario and Quebec combined represented 83.2% of the total vegetable area in Canada, despite seeing drops in area of 16.7% and 10.8%, respectively. Nova Scotia was the only province to report an increase in field vegetable area (2.0%).
Greenhouse area expanded
Greenhouse expansion continued from 2006 to 2011 bringing the total greenhouse area to 249.3 million square feet, an increase of 4.2%.
Operations in Ontario accounted for the majority of the increase as Canada's greenhouse sector continued to be concentrated in this province (54.2%), followed by British Columbia (24.0%) and Quebec (12.2%). The number of operations decreased while the average area under glass increased. Greenhouse area increased in most provinces across the country, with the exception of the four Atlantic provinces.
Total greenhouse area used to produce vegetables (135.1 million square feet) exceeded that used to produce flowers (92.5 million square feet)—a situation first observed in 2006. The area dedicated to greenhouse vegetables increased by 18.7% since 2006. Growth in greenhouse vegetable area continued to be supported by demand for year-round high-quality produce as well as stable export markets in the United States—particularly important to Ontario.
Conversely, greenhouse floriculture area decreased by 7.4% and most notably in Ontario. Greater competition from imported products from countries such as Ecuador, Colombia, and the United States, a higher Canadian dollar, weakening exports and rising production costs challenged greenhouse floriculture producers.
Blueberries and cranberries increased in area
Total fruit area climbed 14.7% since 2006 to 312,041 acres in 2011. Blueberries accounted for more than half (56.1%) of the total fruit area with 175,078 acres, with a 38.1% rise from 2006 (Figure 23).
At the provincial level, development of managed wild blueberry area increased the total blueberry area by 60.7% in Quebec, 26.1% in New Brunswick, 25.5% in Prince Edward Island, and 16.7% in Nova Scotia. In British Columbia, rapid expansion of highbush blueberry area increased its total blueberry area by 76.8% to 20,858 acres.
Figure 23: Area grown for selected fruit, Canada, 2006 and 2011
Driven by international demand and rising consumption, cranberry area surpassed areas of strawberries, peaches, and raspberries between the 2006 and 2011 censuses to become the fourth largest fruit crop nationwide. Cranberry area more than doubled in Quebec (up 112.1%) to 7,100 acres and rose by 61.0% to 6,519 acres in British Columbia—the two provinces reporting the largest areas of cranberries. Atlantic Canada also became a greater player in cranberries with area increases in all Atlantic provinces.
Increases in grape area since 2006 in British Columbia, Quebec, and Nova Scotia were offset by a decrease in Ontario, resulting in an overall decline in grape area of 0.2% to 30,009 acres in 2011. The decrease in Ontario was driven by the loss of the market for Labrusca grapes (used primarily for juice and jelly); however, vinifera and hybrid grapes (used primarily for wine) continued to be important.
Rising labour costs, competition from imports, price fluctuations, loss of processing markets, and increasing costs of production affected the fruit industry across the country. As a result, areas of strawberries, raspberries, and all tree fruits with the exception of sweet cherries declined since 2006. While sour cherry area decreased at the Canada level overall, it increased 37.5% in Saskatchewan as a result of continued growth of hardy machine-harvestable bush cherries.
Beekeepers mostly in the west
Farmers and beekeepers reported 561,297 colonies of honeybees in 2011, up 1.4% from 2006. Although honeybees were reported in every province, just over two-thirds of all honeybee colonies (70.2%) were reported in the Prairie provinces. In addition to being used for honey production, honeybees are used to pollinate crops, such as berries and fruit trees, vegetables and hybrid canola for seed. The demand for honey and pollination services supported colony numbers despite ongoing bee mortality problems across the country.
Other bees used exclusively for pollination—principally leaf-cutter bees—were reported almost entirely in the three Prairie provinces, with 98.4% of the 355,126 gallons of other pollinating bees reported in Canada. Leaf-cutter bees are used principally for pollination of alfalfa seed and in production of hybrid canola for seed. They are also used as pollinators for blueberries and other fruit crops, albeit to a lesser extent.
Sod and nursery industries in sync with housing
The area of sod decreased 8.1% since 2006 to 63,467 acres, while nursery area declined 3.2% to 59,666 acres. The decrease was concentrated in Ontario and Quebec, Canada's most populated provinces, reflecting the economic climate and consequently slower demand for sod and nursery products.
Production of sod and nursery products for landscaping has close ties with the housing sector. In 2011, total annual building permits issued for single residence units declined by 26.0% in Ontario and 22.8% in Quebec compared to 2006 (CANSIM series 026-0001). Rising costs of production also tightened margins across the nursery sector.
Maple taps increased
The number of maple taps increased by 16.7% since 2006 to 44.4 million taps. Quebec continued to dominate the maple industry with 91.4% of all taps in the country, followed by New Brunswick and Ontario. Small-scale tapping continued across the country, including all three Prairie Provinces and in British Columbia.
While dairy-typed farms were the most common in Quebec (20.1%), those typed as maple syrup and products farms came second (15.9%). Farms typed as maple in Quebec accounted for 89.5% of total gross farm receipts in 2010 from all maple farms across the country. Quebec also accounted for 92.9% of all the farms reporting certified organic maple products in Canada.
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