Chapter 2
- Almost half of farm operators are aged 55 or older
- Paid labour on farms: year-round and seasonal employees
- Financial status of farms
Almost half of farm operators aged 55 and older
The 2011 Census of Agriculture marks the first time the 55-and-over age category represented the highest percentage of total operators (Figure 12). In 2011, 48.3% of operators were aged 55 or over, compared to 40.7% in 2006. By contrast, the Labour Force Survey reported that in May 2011, 30.8% of those self-employed in the total labour force were aged 55 years or older.
Figure 12: Total operators by age category, Canada, 1991 to 2011
There were 293,925 operators reported in the 2011 Census of Agriculture, which represents a drop of 10.1% since 2006, in line with the decreasing number of farms. There were a total of 213,265 (72.6%) male and 80,665 (27.4%) female operators.
Quebec remained the province with the youngest operators, with an average operator age of 51.4 in 2011, compared to the national average of 54.0 (Table 3). British Columbia's operators had the highest average age at 55.7.
| Province | Average operator age | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 2006 | 2001 | |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 55.0 | 52.3 | 50.5 |
| Prince Edward Island | 54.2 | 51.4 | 49.3 |
| Nova Scotia | 55.4 | 53.2 | 51.0 |
| New Brunswick | 55.5 | 52.8 | 51.0 |
| Quebec | 51.4 | 49.3 | 47.0 |
| Ontario | 54.5 | 52.6 | 50.7 |
| Manitoba | 53.1 | 51.2 | 49.0 |
| Saskatchewan | 54.2 | 52.6 | 50.5 |
| Alberta | 54.5 | 52.2 | 49.9 |
| British Columbia | 55.7 | 53.6 | 51.4 |
| Canada | 54.0 | 52.0 | 49.9 |
| Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture, 2001 to 2011 | |||
In 2011, 8.2% of operators were less than 35 years of age, a decrease from 9.1% in 2006. In Quebec, 10.9% of operators were less than 35 years old—the highest percentage nationally.
The average gross farm receipts for farms with all operators under 35 years of age was $204,558, while the average for farms with operators under 35 alongside older operators was $450,485 (Table 4).
| Farm category | Average gross farm receipts ($) |
|---|---|
| Farms with all operators under 35 years | 204,558 |
| Farms with under-35 operators alongside older operators | 450,485 |
| Farms with all operators over 35 | 240,027 |
| All farms | 248,199 |
| Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture, 2011 | |
On-farm work
Most operators continued to work more than 40 hours a week on average on the farm, although the proportion declined. In 2010, 40.1% of operators worked more than 40 hours a week on average on their farm operations, compared with 46.7% in 2005. Conversely, 31.5% of all operators allocated less than 20 hours a week on average to farm work, an increase from 27.2% in 2005.
Female operators were more likely to work part-time on the farm with 62.3% reporting an average of less than 30 hours a week on the farm, compared to 40.4% of male operators (Table 5).
| Average hours per week of on-farm work | Percent of operators | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| All | Male | Female | |
| More than 40 hours | 40.1 | 46.2 | 24.2 |
| 30 to 40 hours | 13.4 | 13.4 | 13.5 |
| 20 to 29 hours | 15.0 | 14.1 | 17.3 |
| Less than 20 hours | 31.5 | 26.4 | 45.0 |
| Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture, 2011 | |||
Farms with higher gross farm receipts had operators that worked more hours a week on average on the farm. Of the operators whose farms had $2 million and over in gross farm receipts, 80.7% worked more than 40 hours a week on average on the farm, while only 6.9% worked an average of less than 20 hours a week on average (Figure 13).
Off-farm work
The majority of operators did not work off the farm in 2010, and this was consistent for both males and females. The 2011 Census showed that 46.9% of operators reported working off the farm in 2010, compared to 48.4% in 2005.
For those who did work off the farm, the proportion of female operators was higher than that of males; however, female operators reported working fewer hours off the farm, and were more likely to have part-time employment.
One-fifth (20.7%) of female operators reported working less than 30 hours a week on average (part-time) off the farm in 2010, compared to 13.0% of male operators (Table 6). Still, 11.1% of female operators reported more than 40 hours a week of employment off the farm, though this was about half the percentage of male operators at 20.6%.
| Average hours per week of off-farm work | Percent of operators | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| All | Male | Female | |
| Any off-farm work | 46.9 | 46.3 | 48.4 |
| More than 40 hours | 18.0 | 20.6 | 11.1 |
| 30 to 40 hours | 13.7 | 12.7 | 16.6 |
| 20 to 29 hours | 6.5 | 5.5 | 9.1 |
| Less than 20 hours | 8.6 | 7.5 | 11.6 |
| Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture, 2011 | |||
Paid labour on farms: year-round and seasonal employees
Paid labour was reported on 34.0% of Canadian farms for 2010, accounting for 297,683 paid employees.
Of those, 112,059 (37.6%) were year-round (either full-time or part-time) employees, while 185,624 (62.4%) were seasonal or temporary employees (Table 7). Questions on the number of year-round and seasonal employees were new to the 2011 Census of Agriculture.
At the provincial level, it was Ontario that reported the most farm employees with 28.5% of the total count, followed by Quebec and British Columbia.
| Province | Total employees | Year-round employees | Seasonal employees | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| number | percent | number | percent | ||
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 1,395 | 466 | 33.4 | 929 | 66.6 |
| Prince Edward Island | 4,687 | 1,209 | 25.8 | 3,478 | 74.2 |
| Nova Scotia | 9,695 | 2,177 | 22.5 | 7,518 | 77.5 |
| New Brunswick | 7,452 | 2,024 | 27.2 | 5,428 | 72.8 |
| Quebec | 57,488 | 24,592 | 42.8 | 32,896 | 57.2 |
| Ontario | 84,878 | 33,271 | 39.2 | 51,607 | 60.8 |
| Manitoba | 19,827 | 8,847 | 44.6 | 10,980 | 55.4 |
| Saskatchewan | 28,904 | 10,634 | 36.8 | 18,270 | 63.2 |
| Alberta | 37,852 | 15,598 | 41.2 | 22,254 | 58.8 |
| British Columbia | 45,505 | 13,241 | 29.1 | 32,264 | 70.9 |
| Canada | 297,683 | 112,059 | 37.6 | 185,624 | 62.4 |
| Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture, 2011 | |||||
Higher proportions of seasonal employees were reported in provinces such as Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and British Columbia. These provinces have higher proportions of fruit, tree nut and potato farms which require brief periods of significant labour. In contrast, provinces having higher proportions of year-round employees also have higher proportions of livestock farms, requiring year-round labour.
Financial status of farms
Gross farm receipts increased while expenses remained stable
From 2005 to 2010, gross farm receipts increased while total operating expenses remained unchanged. Gross farm receipts in Canada were $51.1 billion in 2010, up 3.9% from $49.2 billion (at 2010 constant prices) in 2005. Total operating expenses remained unchanged at $42.2 billion during the same period.
Most gross farm receipts come from the sales of farm commodities. They also include payments from government-sponsored programs. Farmers themselves contributed to many of these programs by paying premiums, much like with any insurance plan. According to Statistics Canada data from the Agriculture Economics Statistics series on direct program payments to agricultural producers, 13.4% of receipts in 2005 were from program payments; in 2010 this proportion had dropped to 7.0% (CANSIM series 002-0001). The value of these payments fell by 45.4%, from $5.7 billion to $3.1 billion (at 2010 constant prices) during this period.
More million-dollar farms
According to the 2011 Census of Agriculture, Canada had 9,602 farms with $1 million or more in gross farm receipts reported for 2010. While these farms are still a relatively small proportion of all farms, they increased significantly, from 3.2% of the total number of farms and 42.8% of gross farm receipts for 2005 to 4.7% of all farms and 49.1% of gross farm receipts for 2010 (at 2010 constant prices).
The number of farms reporting $1 million or more (at 2010 constant prices) in receipts grew by 31.2% over the last intercensal period, while the number of farms reporting less than $1 million fell by 11.7%.
Million-dollar farms were more likely to be incorporated; 77.2% of million-dollar farms were incorporated compared with 19.8% of all farms. Family corporations represented 66.3% of million-dollar farms compared with 17.4% of all farms, and non-family corporations represented 10.9% of million-dollar farms, but 2.4% of all farms.
The number of $2 million farms also increased—the 2011 Census of Agriculture showed that Canada had 3,298 farms in this category, a 22.0% increase since the 2006 Census. They represented 1.6% of all farms, while they reported one-third of the total receipts.
Gross farm receipts varied by farm type
The leading farm type in terms of both farm numbers and receipts was oilseed and grain farms, accounting for 30.0% of all farms and 35.7% of all gross farm receipts in Canada in 2010 (Figure 14). The gross farm receipts of oilseed and grain farms totalled $18.2 billion in 2010, up 49.5% since 2005 (at 2010 constant prices) (Table 8), while the number of farms typed as oilseed and grain remained constant.
Beef farms came second, with 18.2% of all farms and 14.3% of all gross farm receipts in Canada. Receipts from beef farms totalled $7.3 billion in 2010, down 24.8% since 2005 (at 2010 constant prices), while the number of farms typed as beef declined by 38.6%. Dairy farms were third in terms of gross farm receipts, reporting 12.3% of all gross farm receipts in Canada, while they accounted for 5.9% of all farms.
Gross farm receipts on hog and pig farms fell by 33.2% between 2005 and 2010 (at 2010 constant prices), to $4.1 billion. These farms represented 1.7% of all farms in Canada and reported 8.1% of all gross farm receipts in 2010, down from 2.6% of all farms and 12.5% of gross farm receipts in 2005. Gross receipts reported by poultry and egg farms increased by 9.8% during the same 5 years to $4.0 billion, while the number of farms typed as poultry and egg decreased by 2.1%.
| Farm type | (millions of dollars) | Percent change, 2005 to 2010 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 2005 | ||
| Oilseed and grain | 18,220 | 12,188 | 49.5 |
| Beef | 7,323 | 9,743 | -24.8 |
| Dairy | 6,278 | 6,323 | -0.7 |
| Hog and pig | 4,122 | 6,170 | -33.2 |
| Poultry and egg | 3,978 | 3,623 | 9.8 |
| Greenhouse and nursery | 3,356 | 3,699 | -9.3 |
| Other animal | 2,533 | 2,406 | 5.3 |
| Vegetable and melon | 2,132 | 2,105 | 1.3 |
| Other crop | 1,997 | 1,786 | 11.8 |
| Fruit and tree nut | 949 | 952 | -0.2 |
| Sheep and goat | 173 | 172 | 0.7 |
| All farms | 51,062 | 49,166 | 3.9 |
| Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture, 2006 and 2011 | |||
Farm operating expenses
Total operating expenses remained unchanged from 2005 to 2010, at $42.2 billion (at 2010 constant prices).
Compared to 2005, crop-specific production expenses increased by 19.2%, whereas livestock-specific production expenses decreased by 7.3%.
Fertilizer and lime expenses increased by 24.5% (at 2010 constant prices) between 2005 and 2010, from $2.9 billion to $3.6 billion. Purchases of fertilizer and lime accounted for 8.4% of total operating expenses in Canada in 2010 compared with 6.8% in 2005.
Purchases of feed, supplements and hay accounted for 14.1% of total operating expenses in Canada in 2010 compared with 13.8% (at 2010 constant prices) in 2005 (Figure 15), related to increases in crop prices. This expense category increased by 2.5% to $6.0 billion in 2010. Expenses for purchases of livestock and poultry decreased by 16.3%, from $5.9 billion in 2005 to $5.0 billion in 2010. This expense category shifted from 14.1% to 11.8% of the total during the intercensal period.
Expenses for both family and non-family wages represented 10.4% of all expenses in Canada in 2010 compared with 10.6% in 2005 (at 2010 constant prices). Between 2005 and 2010, expenses for wages fell by 2.2% to $4.4 billion. The proportion of wages paid to family members continued to decrease in comparison with wages paid to non-family members. Other expenses grew by 16.0%, from $5.1 billion in 2005 to $5.9 billion in 2010. These expenses accounted for 13.9% of all expenses in Canada in 2010 compared with 12.0% in 2005.
Farm product and input prices
According to the Farm Product Price Index (FPPI) and the Farm Input Price Index (FIPI), prices farmers received for the products they sold between 2005 and 2010 rose (16.5%) more quickly than prices they paid for the inputs purchased (15.7%) (CANSIM series 002-0022 and 328-0015).
Prices farmers received for crops increased more than prices for livestock products. During this period, the FPPI shows a 33.8% increase in crop prices; as part of that increase, grain prices rose by 45.9% and oilseed prices by 51.3%. By contrast, the FPPI shows that livestock product prices increased by 5.7%. This includes dairy prices which grew by 12.6% and cattle prices which grew by 0.3%, while hog prices fell by 2.8%.
The prices farmers paid for crop production inputs also increased more significantly than the prices for livestock production inputs. The FIPI shows a 21.8% increase between 2005 and 2010 in the price of crop inputs, whereas livestock production input prices rose by 16.8% in that period.
Note that the FIPI shows an overall increase in farm input prices that is greater than the FPPI for animal products and less than the FPPI for crop products (Figure 16).
Figure 16: Farm Product Price Index and Farm Input Price Index (2005=100), Canada, 2005 to 2010
Expense-to-receipts ratio improved
For every dollar of receipts in 2010, Canadian farmers spent an average of 83 cents in expenses (excluding depreciation), about 3 cents less than in 2005 (Table 9).
Increased efficiency, higher crop prices, increased production and the move to crops with higher returns contributed to improving the ratio of expenses to gross farm receipts.
The expenses-to-receipts ratios were stable or improved in every province. In 2010, Saskatchewan had the country's lowest ratio of expenses to receipts at 0.76, due mainly to the predominance of oilseed and grain farms in that province, a farm type with one of the lowest ratios (Table 10). Oilseed and grain farms accounted for 60.1% of all farms in Saskatchewan, and 77.0% of the province's gross farm receipts.
Quebec had the second lowest ratio at 0.82, due mostly to the predominance of dairy farms, a farm type with one of the best ratios. By contrast, British Columbia had the highest ratio in Canada, with floriculture, fruit and tree nut farms predominant in that province. These farm types have higher ratios than other agricultural sectors.
| Province | Ratio | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 2005 | 2000 | |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 0.86 | 0.86 | 0.87 |
| Prince Edward Island | 0.85 | 0.90 | 0.85 |
| Nova Scotia | 0.84 | 0.87 | 0.84 |
| New Brunswick | 0.86 | 0.86 | 0.86 |
| Quebec | 0.82 | 0.82 | 0.83 |
| Ontario | 0.84 | 0.86 | 0.86 |
| Manitoba | 0.83 | 0.86 | 0.87 |
| Saskatchewan | 0.76 | 0.88 | 0.85 |
| Alberta | 0.85 | 0.89 | 0.90 |
| British Columbia | 0.89 | 0.90 | 0.91 |
| Canada | 0.83 | 0.86 | 0.87 |
| Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture, 2001 to 2011 | |||
Dairy farms had the lowest ratio of Canada's major farm types, and this ratio remained unchanged between 2005 and 2010 (Table 10). Oilseed and grain farms also had a low ratio of 0.76 in 2010, an improvement over their ratio of 0.87 in 2005, and due in part to higher crop prices, especially for canola. The ratio for beef farms remained relatively stable at 0.93. The ratio for hog and pig farms deteriorated significantly, from 0.86 in 2005 to 0.92 in 2010.
| Farm type | Ratio | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 2005 | 2000 | |
| Oilseed and grain | 0.76 | 0.87 | 0.85 |
| Beef | 0.93 | 0.93 | 0.94 |
| Dairy | 0.73 | 0.73 | 0.74 |
| Hog and pig | 0.92 | 0.86 | 0.85 |
| Poultry and egg | 0.84 | 0.84 | 0.86 |
| Greenhouse and nursery | 0.86 | 0.86 | 0.85 |
| Other animal | 0.88 | 0.92 | 0.92 |
| Vegetable and melon | 0.84 | 0.85 | 0.85 |
| Other crop | 0.89 | 0.91 | 0.95 |
| Fruit and tree nut | 0.90 | 0.87 | 0.90 |
| Sheep and goat | 1.01 | 1.01 | 1.18 |
| All farms | 0.83 | 0.86 | 0.87 |
| Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture, 2001 to 2011 | |||
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