Data and Mapping Notes

Canadian Agriculture at a Glance

Four of the agriculture maps have been selected from the 1996 Statistics Canada publication "Canadian Agriculture at a Glance" (Catalogue No. 96-325-XPB). Three of these maps and their accompanying articles examine Canada's largest agricultural production sectors: beef cattle, dairy farms and wheat farms. The fourth map examines the economics of one-half of all Canadian farms - those earning $40 000 or less in gross farm receipts.

All of the agriculture maps portray data at the census division level. Census divisions are geostatistical areas which account for all of the area of Canada. According to the 1996 Census Dictionary, census divisions correspond to areas such as counties, regional districts, regional municipalities and other areas established by provincial law. In cases where no small set of provincially established areas of this type exists, one is created by Statistics Canada in co-operation with provincial authorities.

Use of the Agricultural Ecumene

In order to better display agricultural information, the maps will make use of an agricultural ecumene. The ecumene provides a defined boundary for agricultural data that is based on where agricultural land is found in Canada. It provides a more representative map than one using only the geostatistical boundaries of census divisions. While the agricultural ecumene is an improvement, it is not ideal because many small or scattered areas of land are not shown. As well, the ecumene's outline smoothes out the boundary between farm and non-farm areas for cartographic clarity. A full description of the methodology used to create the ecumene is available from the Spatial Analysis and Geomatics Applications (SAGA) section of Agriculture Division, Statistics Canada.

Data Notes

The Census of Agriculture was expanded in 1996 to include 138 commercial poultry hatcheries and 1593 farms producing only Christmas trees. This change has slightly increased counts of farms, farm operators, farm population and farm families. Christmas tree-only farms are found predominately in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario.