Statistics Canada says the hemorrhage of workers out of the agricultural sector escalated last year with 52,000 Canadians reclassifying themselves as non-farm workers.
As many as 33,000 of those were on the Prairies, an Agriculture Canada economist said last week.
But before farm leaders and opposition politicians equate this directly with a loss of farmers, federal officials caution it does not mean 52,000 abandoned farms, even if it is a sign of a weak farm economy.
It means many people said they moved from working most of their hours on a farm to most of their hours at another job. They may still be working on or running a farm as well.
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People affected by the change include farmers and spouses, farm kids moving away from home, farm hands finding higher-paying jobs and retiring farmers.
“Some of these would be farmers leaving the land because of the income situation,” said Vince Ferrao, senior analyst with Statistics Canada’s labor force survey.
“But it is not the same as the number of farmers going out of business, for sure.”
The labor force survey became a major policy headache for the federal government last fall when stories suggested the falling agricultural workforce tally meant more than 22,000 prairie farmers had left the land during the year.
Farm economists scratched their heads in incredulity, but the number became a political rallying cry for those demanding more government help for farmers. Last week, the number surfaced again as pressure for enriched farm aid grew.
“We note that between August 1999 and August 2000, over 23,000 people left the agriculture industry in Western Canada,” Agricore president Neil Silver wrote to prime minister Jean Chrétien.
Agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief was informed last fall that the numbers related to hours worked and not farm operations. However, he was never asked a direct question in the House of Commons and so never made that point.
Last week, Agriculture Canada economist Jack Gellner said the numbers represent a labor reclassification based on hours of work and reflects increased off-farm work as much as it does loss of farms.
“The farm economy is slow and people are moving off-farm to earn more money, but it doesn’t mean the farm is abandoned or lost,” he said.
Still, the 2000 labor force survey is a dramatic reflection of how hard it is to make a living and to employ labor on many farms.
Statistics Canada said the 52,000 people who were reclassified as non-farm workers represented a dramatic 13 percent drop in national agricultural employment. In Saskatchewan, the decline was 13,000 people, or 19 percent.
Gellner said the Prairie-wide total was close to 33,000.
Statistics Canada said there were a number of factors at play:
- The strong non-farm economy has lured spouses, children, hired hands and farmers into off-farm jobs.
- Low commodity prices and high costs may have pushed some farmers off the land.
- Since the typical farmer and farm worker is older than average workers, “the drop in farm employment may also reflect retirement.”
