When Canadian farmers were last asked to fill out census forms to give Ottawa a snapshot of the farm sector circa 1996, the picture statisticians received looked like this:
- Farmers older than 55 were twice as prevalent at 32 percent as those under 35 at 16 percent.
- Only one in five farm families earned more than half their income from farming.
- Farm family income, counting off-farm work, had increased 3.6 percent in the previous five years while average Canadian family income fell 4.9 percent during the same period. Both were in the $54,000 range.
- More farmers had post-secondary education than ever before – four in 10.
- Farm families still were larger than the average Canadian family, but the size of farm families has dropped sharply in the past 25 years to 3.4 persons.
- In the 15 years to 1995, farm produce sales contributed less to farm family income totals in all provinces but Nova Scotia.
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Saskatchewan remained the province where farm income contributed the most, but even there it dropped to 29 percent from 49 percent in 1980.
According to Statistics Canada figures published recently, the farm population continues to decline as a portion of rural population. In 1996, 13 percent of rural residents lived on farms. However, several provinces recorded increases in farm dwellers.
“The farm population has been increasing since 1986 in British Columbia (13.1 percent) and Alberta (7.4 percent),” according to the federal agency. There also were small increases in the farm population in Nova Scotia and Manitoba.
