More than 200 commodities are produced in Ontario including fruits, vegetables, livestock, dairy, poultry, grains and oilseeds.
There are approximately 57,000 farms in Ontario and each farmer produces enough food to feed 120 people every year! These farms have more than $9 billion in cash receipts - that's approximately one quarter of all farm revenue in Canada.
More than half of Canada's prime agricultural land is in Ontario.
Ontario's agri-food industry contributes more than $30 billion to the provincial economy annually, and employs more than 700,000 people.
Approximately 3,700 food and beverage processors are located in Ontario.
Ontario leads the country in agri-food exports. In 2006, we shipped $8.6 billion in agri-food products around the world. Exports to the U.S. totaled $6.9 billion in 2006.
The province accounts for more than 40 per cent of Canadian food and beverage industry shipments.
Agriculture is more than food to eat. Some cloth and textiles begin in the barnyard, as wool, and in the field, with hemp. Hemp is also used to make paper and a variety of industrial products.
Ontario's greenhouse sector represents more than half of the country's greenhouse industry. In 2006 the value of greenhouse plant production was approximately $1.3 billion.
Corn is processed into products such as road de-icers, windshield washer fluid, ethanol fuel, soap, toothpaste, paint and spark plugs, to name a few.
Bioeconomy inputs such as soybeans, grains or manure, produced on the farm, are used to create alternative fuels and green energy, contributing to a cleaner environment.
Ontario is a world leader in food technology research and development with more than 75 per cent of agri-food exports being value-added.
Farmers in the province have reduced their pesticide use by more than 50 per cent in the last two decades.
From the Archives:
OMAFRA Update 2, November 2007
