OTTAWA — A 1.9% decrease in the number of farms operations led to a 3.5% decline in the number of farm operators in Canada since 2016, according to figures in the new 2021 Census of Canadian Agriculture.
In 2016, there were 271,935 farm operators, and by 2021 the number decreased to 262,455.
At the same time, the number of female operators has increased for the first time since 1991. In 2021, there were 79,795 female farm operators, up from 77,970 in 2016. In 2021, 30.4% of total farm operators were female, up from 28.7% in 2016.
