Statistics Canada says farmers are adopting more sustainable practices to cope with climate change.
Agricultural census data released May 11 shows 64.5 percent of farms reported using “land practice methods” such as winter grazing, rotational grazing, plow-downs of green crops, winter cover crops and shelterbelts or windbreaks.
The percentage is up from 53.7 percent in the last data collection.
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The agency also said farmers reported a shift to more drought-tolerant crops such as barley to help deal with drier, warmer conditions. The five-year period saw a 24.3 percent increase in acreage, which was the biggest percentage increase among the top 10 crops. In acreage terms, there were 8.3 million barley acres grown in 2021 compared to 6.7 million in 2016.
Farms reporting organic production increased nearly 32 percent from the previous census to 5,658. Organic farms accounted for three percent of the total last year, compared to 2.2 percent in 2016.
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