Alberta Agriculture Statistics Yearbook, 2012
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Alberta farms continued to adopt usage of environmentally friendly practices (no-till seeding and conservation tillage). No-till
methods were used on 64.8 per cent of land prepared for seeding in 2011, up from 47.8 per cent in 2006. Conservation
tillage was used on 22.5 per cent of the land prepared for seeding, down from 27.7 per cent five years previous.
Conventional tillage fell to 12.8 per cent, from 24.5 per cent in 2006. There were 11,164 farms that indicated crop residue
was baled, accounting for 2.2 million acres, or 9.3 per cent of the total provincial area in crops. This was the largest area
reported in the country, at 38.0 per cent of the national total (5.9 million acres). The number of acres where herbicides,
insecticides and/or fungicides were applied increased to 22.1 million acres (18.7 million acres in 2006). Application of
commercial fertilizer rose 2.1 per cent to 17.6 million acres in 2011 (17.2 million acres in 2006).
In 2011, there were 326 farms with certified organic and/or transitional production in the province. This represented 0.8 per
cent of Alberta farms, below the national average of 2.0 per cent of farms reporting this type of production. Hay and field
crop production were the most common, reported by 84 per cent of the organic farms.
Farm Operators
The number of farm operators in Alberta fell 13.4 per cent in 2011, to 62,050 (from 71,660 in 2006), in line with lower farm
numbers. The decline in farm operators was not unique to Alberta and was evident across the other provinces, except Nova
Scotia and British Columbia. Nationally, farm operator numbers dropped 10.1 per cent to 293,925.
The average age of Alberta farm operators in 2011 was 54.5 years, up from 52.2 years in 2006. This was quite similar to the
national trend where average age was 54.0 years, up from 52.0 years in 2006. The proportion of operators “55 years and
over” has been increasing, and accounted for 49.6 per cent of operators in 2011 (41.1 per cent in 2006), while the proportion
“
under 35 years of age” has continued to decline, accounting for 7.3 per cent in 2011 (8.8 per cent in 2006). Operators in the
“35
to 54 years” age class fell to 43.1 per cent (50.1 per cent in 2006).
In 2011, there were 17,975 (29.0 per cent) female and 44,075 (79.0 per cent) male farm operators in the province. For
Canada, the split was 27.4 per cent female and 72.6 per cent male. Among provinces, Alberta had the second highest
proportion of female operators behind British Columbia (36.5 per cent). Of the 62,050 farm operators in Alberta, 40.5 per
cent were on single operator farms (39.1 per cent in 2006), while 59.5 per cent were on farms with two or more operators
(60.9
per cent in 2006).
The percentage of Alberta farm operators reporting paid non-farm work declined from the previous census. Fifty-two per
cent of Alberta farm operators (32,245) had paid non-farm work in the calendar year prior to the census, down from 54.6 per
cent in 2006. For those that reported paid non-farm work, the majority of operators (60.1 per cent) worked 40 or fewer hours
per week, while the remainder (39.9 per cent) had non-farm work of more than 40 hours per week. Nationally, there were
137,755
farm operators that reported paid non-farm work (46.9 per cent of total operators), down from 158,255 (48.4 per
cent of total operators) in 2006.
A total of 12,798 Alberta farms (29.6 per cent of all farms) reported having a total of 37,852 year-round, seasonal, or
temporary employees. Of total employees, 58.8 per cent were seasonal or temporary, while 41.2 per cent were year-round
(
full or part-time). No data is available for 2006 as this was a new question.