Agriculture-reliant Communities, 2001

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Abstract

There are 804 communities that are at least 30% reliant on agriculture and agricultural products processing. Of these communities, the majority (502) have a reliance of 50% or higher and 302 have a reliance between 30 and 49%.

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The distribution of agriculture-reliant communities closely matches the distribution of farmland in Canada, except that there are fewer communities found in southern Ontario. The presence of many manufacturing- and service-employment centres means that agriculture is relatively less important to this region (although often very important in actual employment terms). To some extent, this condition is also true in the intensively farmed lower Fraser River valley of British Columbia.

The two provinces with by far the highest number of agriculture-reliant communities are Saskatchewan (with 281) and Quebec with 245. Manitoba has 95 communities and Alberta has 69, with no other province having more than 23.

Saskatchewan has the most ‘highly reliant’ agricultural communities in Canada. More than three-quarters of its communities are in the solely reliant and highly reliant classes. To a lesser extent, the same is true for the other two Prairie provinces, Alberta and Manitoba. Quebec, with its relatively small agricultural area and numerous cities, has a much smaller number of communities in the higher reliance classes: only one-quarter of its communities are in the solely reliant and highly reliant classes. All other provinces also have more communities with relatively low values than with very high values.

Only three agriculture-reliant communities have more than 20 000 inhabitants: Abbotsford, British Columbia (115 000); Brant, Ontario (32 000); and Sainte-Hyacinthe, Quebec (39 000). The large size of these agriculturally-reliant communities is due to the concentration of food-industry plants and to intensive farming in these areas. Relatively few other communities have more than 5000 inhabitants, and many (especially in Saskatchewan) have fewer than 1000.

The Data and Mapping Notes provide more detailed information on the methodology and the 2001 Census data used to measure resource reliance.

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