The Canadian Census of Agriculture (french: Recensement de l'agriculture), is a census conducted every five years by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultu ...

, alongside the national census, for the purposes of gathering Canadian agricultural industry, farm operator, and farm data.

Overview

As mandated by the

Statistics Act The ''Statistics Act'' (the ''Act'') is an Act of the Parliament of Canada passed in 1918 which created the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, now called Statistics Canada since 1971. The ''Statistics Act'' gives Statistics Canada the authority t ...

, Statistics Canada carries out a

Census of Agriculture A census of agriculture is a statistical operation for collecting, processing and disseminating data on the structure of agriculture, covering the whole or a significant part of a country. Typical structural data collected in a census of agricultur ...

every five years. For this purpose, Statistics Canada surveys every agricultural operation and agricultural operator in Canada to construct a detailed, local understanding of demographics, commodities, operation structure, technology spread, and other notable aspects of agricultural data. Like the

United States Census of Agriculture The Census of Agriculture is a census conducted every five years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) that provides the only source of uniform, comprehensive agricultural data for every cou ...

, farm operators are obligated to respond to the census. Unlike the Census of Agriculture, there is no minimum amount of agricultural operation income produced and sold for an agricultural operation to be considered. The Census of Agriculture is conducted concurrently with the larger Census of Population. Doing so allows for savings within the administrative costs, as well as for a direct linkage with the socio-demographic results present in the Census of Population, which is used to further inform the results of the Census of Agriculture. This linkage has been running since 1971. The latest Census of Agriculture in Canada was conducted in May 2016.

History

Following after the designation of the national census in the Constitution Act of 1867, the first Census of Agriculture was conducted in Manitoba in 1896, with Alberta and Saskatchewan being added in 1901. In 1956 the Census of Agriculture was expanded to the rest of Canada, and at the same time would begin to be conducted concurrently to the Census of Population. Like the Census of Population, the Census of Agriculture shifted from the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Trade and Commerce in 1912, and finally to the Dominion Bureau of Statistics (presently Statistics Canada) in 1918. The 2016 Census of Agriculture recorded 193,492 farms and 271,935 farm operators.

Data collected from Census of Agriculture

The Census of Agriculture, given its interests in presenting a thorough understanding of the entirety of the agricultural sector in Canada, collects a wide variety of data about individual farm operations and operators. Examples of information collected include: Agricultural Operator Data: * Number of Operators * Age of Operators * Gender of Operators * Education of Operators * Responsibilities of Operators Agricultural Operation Data: * Type of operating arrangements * Main farm location * Size (area) of operation * Land use and land tenure * Area and type of crops * Number and type of livestock * Land management practices * Market value of land and buildings * Number and market value of farm machinery by type * Total gross farm receipts * Total farm business operating expenses * Total number of employees and number of employees paid on a full, part-time or seasonal basis * Presence of Direct marketing * Succession planning * Presence of Renewable energy producing systems. The Census of Agriculture includes producers of both traditional agricultural products as well as other, more exotic to Canada products. Special categorization is given to operations in the territories, including the herding of wild animals, breeding of sled dogs, and harvesting of indigenous plants and berries. Data collected under the Census of Agriculture is protected under the Statistics Act, to ensure that all information provided during the census remains confidential. Like the Census of Population, data is held confidentially and anonymized as necessary.

2016 Census of Agriculture

The most recent Census of Agriculture, in May 2016, included a questionnaire containing 183 questions, spanning 16 pages. However respondents were only required to answer questions applying to their agricultural operations, thus, on average each respondent only answered 20% of questions on the questionnaire. Questions on four new topics were added to the 2016 Census of Agriculture, including adoption of technologies,

direct marketing Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, where organizations communicate directly to a pre-selected customer and supply a method for a direct response. Among practitioners, it is also known as ''direct response marketing''. By ...

succession planning Succession planning is a process and strategy for replacement planning or passing on leadership roles. It is used to identify and develop new, potential leaders who can move into leadership roles when they become vacant. Succession planning in d ...

and

renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

systems. There were several types of data collected to assess information on current agriculture, as an important commodity in the

Canadian economy The economy of Canada is a highly developed mixed-market economy. It is the 8th-largest GDP by nominal and 15th-largest GDP by PPP in the world. As with other developed nations, the country's economy is dominated by the service industry whi ...

Census publication and use

Statistics Canada provides the data to government and public entities at various levels to inform agricultural policy, as well as to establish benchmarks of crops, livestock, and farm finances. The statistical sets, as well as analysis by Statistics Canada is published in the years following a Census of Agriculture. The Census of Agriculture has been useful in many scientific studies, including a study on land use for agriculture in Canada. It has also been used in the past to gauge the

effects of climate change The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice ( glaciers), sea le ...

within the

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

provinces of Canada.

References