Agriculture

The Capital region had total farm cash receipts of $582 million in Census year 2006, accounting for 5.9% of Alberta’s farm receipts.  In 2006, there were nearly 5,200 farms in the region (or 10.5% of Alberta’s total number of farms) with a total acreage of 2.4 million acres.  Average farm size was 465 acres, less than the Alberta average of 1,055 acres.

The region accounted for 4.9% of the total value of on-farm livestock and poultry with a total market value of $245 million in 2006.  The total number of cattle and calves was 287,000, most of them beef cattle.  The Capital region’s share of Alberta’s total number of cattle and calves was 4.5%, of hogs 2.3%, and of hens and chickens 17.5%.

Cropland acreage totaled about 1.5 million acres.  The region is the province’s second largest producer of potatoes, fruits and berries.  Its major crops also include canola, accounting for 9.2% of Alberta’s canola acreage, spring wheat, barley, alfalfa, oats and hay.

Very few current agricultural indicators are available for these special geographies.  However, livestock estimates are available for Census Division 11 (CD11), which encompasses most of the Capital region1.  Between mid-year 2006 and mid-year 2011, the number of cattle and calves in CD 11 declined by 11%.  During the past 10 years, it fell by one-third.

In crop year 2009-10 (year ending August 31, 2010), grain and oilseed deliveries at elevators in the Capital region totaled 1.3 million tonnes2, down 23% from 2008-09.  Wheat (excluding durum) accounted for 49% of the total tonnage, followed by canola (42%) and barley (7%).

Prices for canola and feed grain had more than doubled between early 2006 and the summer of 2008, but fell sharply by about 40% through early 2009.  Crop prices rebounded strongly between spring 2010 and summer 2011, but recent global uncertainties have led to modest price declines during the past few months.  Prices for red spring wheat fell sharply in August and September, but recovered some of their losses in October 2011.  The recent weakening of the Canadian dollar against the US dollar will benefit Alberta crop and cattle growers.

In 2011, Alberta crop production was significantly higher than in the previous year, with record harvests of canola (4.8 million tonnes) and spring wheat (7.6 million tonnes).  Crop conditions in the Capital region were also better than normal that year.

1 A map of Agricultural Census Divisions can be found in: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/ca-ra2006/m/car-rar-eng.pdf 
2 Deliveries at grain elevators are not representative of production as not all grain is shipped to local elevators

Date Updated:
RDP-2420