| | Overview:
The 2011 Census of Agriculture, compiled every 5 years in Canada, revealed no real surprises in the data gathered for grass and legume seed production. As expected, grass and legume seed production across Canada was down significantly, but with the census numbers now available, the degree of change can be noted.
Looking at Canada as a whole, the number of producers involved in forage seed production fell over 40%, with over 1,200 less farmers reporting forage seed acres in 2011. This however, is not surprising, as over 50% less acres were harvested for seed compared to 5 years earlier. Other points to note are:
- Alberta, despite losing over 112,000 acres from 2006, still has the most land in forage seed production
- Saskatchewan acres fell by over 120,000 acres, but overall area still second to Alberta. However, this acreage loss represents a decrease in acres of over 60%
- Manitoba, like Alberta, saw acres decrease by over 40%, (64,000 ac)
- Alberta saw over 430 growers decide not to raise forage seed crops, while over 400 did likewise in Saskatchewan. Manitoba saw over 200 producers decide not to grow grass and legume for seed
- Canadian acres have fallen from 800,000 total acres in 2001 to 325,000 acres 10 years later
- The rest of Canada saw grass and legume seed acreage decreases similar to Western Canada
Table 1: Canadian Grass and Legume Seed Production
Forage Seed Harvested as Seed, Census Years 2011, 2006 and 2001 |  | |
| 2011 | 2006 | 2001 | Change from 06 to 11 | Change from 06 to 11 |
| Farms reporting | Acres | Farms reporting | Acres | Farms reporting | Acres | Farms | Acres |
| Canada | 1,833 | 326,526 | 3,069 | 661,923 | 3,808 | 799,415 | -1,236 | -335,397 |
| Alberta | 609 | 131,933 | 1,046 | 244,615 | 1,506 | 409,251 | -437 | -112,682 |
| Saskatchewan | 356 | 73,361 | 775 | 194,556 | 1,015 | 166,771 | -419 | -121,195 |
| Manitoba | 368 | 67,973 | 606 | 132,322 | 681 | 115,926 | -238 | -64,349 |
| British Columbia | 178 | 42,110 | 207 | 71,624 | 270 | 93,332 | -29 | -29,514 |
| Ontario | 214 | 7,536 | 312 | 12,323 | 238 | 9,088 | -98 | -4,787 |
| Quebec | 85 | 2,880 | 91 | 5,203 | 54 | 2,229 | -6 | -2,323 |
| Prince Edward Island | 5 | 466 | 6 | 501 | 13 | 1,164 | -1 | -35 |
| New Brunswick | 7 | 108 | 15 | 614 | 11 | 1,011 | -8 | -506 |
| Nova Scotia - | 3 | 105 | 6 | 85 | 14 | 398 | -3 | 20 |
| Nfld and Labrador | 8 | 54 | 5 | 80 | 6 | 245 | 3 | -26 |
Production by Province
The following maps and chart show where grass and legume seed production is concentrated within each western Province. StatsCan breaks the census out to “Census Agriculture Regions”, shown on each provincial map below. Forage seed acres broken down to the local MD or County Level can be obtained by going to the 2011 Census of Agriculture internet website: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/ca-ra2011/index-eng.htm
Provincial Notes:
British Columbia
- BC Peace forage seed production, primarily creeping red fescue, down 45% (30,000 ac) from 2006
Alberta
- Overall grass and legume seed acres down 46% from 2006
- Peace River seed acres down 96,000! (combined with the BC Peace, this is down 126,000 acres in this region)
- The Brooks area (alfalfa seed country – Ag Region 2) saw acres increase from 2006
Saskatchewan
- Acres in Saskatchewan fell by over 62% from the 2006 census (121,000 acres)
- The vast majority of seed production still resides in the Nipawin region, although acres in this region fell by close to 70,000
Manitoba
- Grass/legume seed acres down almost 50%
- All regions in Manitoba saw a decrease in acres from 2006 numbers
- The majority of land dedicated to grass/legume seed production is found within 100 km’s of Winnipeg
- Note: land classified as too wet to seed was listed in the census as “other land”. As the census was taken based on conditions as of May 16, 2011, many wet forage seed production areas may have been classified as such
Forage Seed Harvested as Seed, Census Years 2011, 2006 and 2001 | Change from 06 to 11 | Change from 06 to 11 | Acreage change from 06 to 11 (%) |
| 2011 | 2006 | 2001 | | |
| Farms reporting | Acres | Farms reporting | Acres | Farms reporting | Acres | Farms | Acres |
| Canada | 1,833 | 326,526 | 3,069 | 661,923 | 3,808 | 799,415 | -1,236 | -335,397 | -50.7% |
Alberta | 609 | 131,933 | 1,046 | 244,615 | 1,506 | 409,251 | -437 | -112,682 | -46.1% |
| Agricultural Region 1 | 6 | 1,522 | 21 | 4,221 | 24 | 6,179 | -15 | -2,699 | -63.9% |
| Agricultural Region 2 | 156 | 28,639 | 157 | 25,636 | 179 | 32,381 | -1 | 3,003 | 11.7% |
| Agricultural Region 3 | 15 | 3,102 | 32 | 4,917 | 20 | 2,447 | -17 | -1,815 | -36.9% |
| Agricultural Region 4A | 6 | 538 | 18 | 1,771 | 11 | 1,913 | -12 | -1,233 | -69.6% |
| Agricultural Region 4B | 22 | 2,438 | 35 | 7,038 | 28 | 3,365 | -13 | -4,600 | -65.4% |
| Agricultural Region 5 | 39 | 4,363 | 75 | 7,947 | 64 | 10,058 | -36 | -3,584 | -45.1% |
| Agricultural Region 6 | 52 | 6,234 | 76 | 11,205 | 94 | 12,140 | -24 | -4,971 | -44.4% |
| Agricultural Region 7 | 313 | 85,097 | 632 | 181,880 | 1,086 | 340,768 | -319 | -96,783 | -53.2% |
Saskatchewan | 356 | 73,361 | 775 | 194,556 | 1,015 | 166,771 | -419 | -121,195 | -62.3% |
| Agricultural Region 1A | 8 | X | 12 | 3,038 | 20 | 3,485 | -4 | | |
| Agricultural Region 1B | 6 | 895 | 11 | 1,683 | 19 | 2,210 | -5 | -788 | -46.8% |
| Agricultural Region 2A | 7 | X | 9 | 1,721 | 14 | x | -2 | | |
| Agricultural Region 2B | 6 | 590 | 10 | 2,053 | 21 | 1,477 | -4 | -1,463 | -71.3% |
| Agricultural Region 3AN | 6 | 478 | 12 | 1,147 | 13 | 1,674 | -6 | -669 | -58.3% |
| Agricultural Region 3AS | 5 | 612 | 13 | 2,529 | 21 | 2,303 | -8 | -1,917 | -75.8% |
| Agricultural Region 3BN | 8 | 828 | 9 | 798 | 30 | 4,100 | -1 | 30 | 3.8% |
| Agricultural Region 3BS | 5 | 2,730 | 9 | 2,000 | 17 | 4,539 | -4 | 730 | 36.5% |
| Agricultural Region 4A | 2 | X | 4 | 290 | 10 | 4,030 | -2 | | |
| Agricultural Region 4B | 1 | X | 5 | 967 | 5 | 1,440 | -4 | | |
| Agricultural Region 5A | 25 | 9,248 | 38 | 10,220 | 51 | 6,826 | -13 | -972 | -9.5% |
| Agricultural Region 5B | 21 | 5,568 | 63 | 20,541 | 65 | 8,702 | -42 | -14,973 | -72.9% |
| Agricultural Region 6A | 15 | 4,725 | 29 | 8,781 | 36 | 5,651 | -14 | -4,056 | -46.2% |
| Agricultural Region 6B | 13 | 1,550 | 32 | 5,369 | 38 | 4,885 | -19 | -3,819 | -71.1% |
| Agricultural Region 7A | - | - | 7 | 618 | 12 | x | -7 | -618 | |
| Agricultural Region 7B | 3 | X | 11 | 1,775 | 15 | 1,887 | -8 | | |
| Agricultural Region 8A | 147 | 30,256 | 319 | 100,254 | 390 | 81,048 | -172 | -69,998 | -69.8% |
| Agricultural Region 8B | 16 | 2,236 | 41 | 5,928 | 39 | 3,770 | -25 | -3,692 | -62.3% |
| Agricultural Region 9A | 51 | 8,664 | 127 | 21,209 | 166 | 20,710 | -76 | -12,545 | -59.1% |
| Agricultural Region 9B | 11 | 2,038 | 14 | 3,635 | 33 | 5,826 | -3 | -1,597 | -43.9% |
Manitoba | 368 | 67,973 | 606 | 132,322 | 681 | 115,926 | -238 | -64,349 | -48.6% |
| Agricultural Region 1 | 5 | 507 | 22 | 4,115 | 16 | 1,616 | -17 | -3,608 | -87.7% |
| Agricultural Region 2 | 24 | 2,403 | 45 | 7,477 | 37 | 3,041 | -21 | -5,074 | -67.9% |
| Agricultural Region 3 | 15 | 1,950 | 33 | 6,439 | 32 | 3,938 | -18 | -4,489 | -69.7% |
| Agricultural Region 4 | 11 | 1,564 | 21 | 1,964 | 25 | 2,857 | -10 | -400 | -20.4% |
| Agricultural Region 5 | 7 | 975 | 20 | 5,609 | 31 | 5,366 | -13 | -4,634 | -82.6% |
| Agricultural Region 6 | 46 | 8,871 | 72 | 12,985 | 65 | 11,905 | -26 | -4,114 | -31.7% |
| Agricultural Region 7 | 53 | 10,782 | 79 | 18,133 | 58 | 9,752 | -26 | -7,351 | -40.5% |
| Agricultural Region 8 | 41 | 6,512 | 73 | 13,365 | 62 | 7,348 | -32 | -6,853 | -51.3% |
| Agricultural Region 9 | 48 | 8,280 | 70 | 15,784 | 77 | 10,248 | -22 | -7,504 | -47.5% |
| Agricultural Region 10 | 18 | 3,507 | 32 | 6,199 | 75 | 14,298 | -14 | -2,692 | -43.4% |
| Agricultural Region 11 | 29 | 4,672 | 33 | 9,456 | 49 | 8,291 | -4 | -4,784 | -50.6% |
| Agricultural Region 12 | 71 | 17,950 | 106 | 30,796 | 154 | 37,266 | -35 | -12,846 | -41.7% |
British Columbia | 178 | 42,110 | 207 | 71,624 | 270 | 93,332 | -29 | -29,514 | -41.2% |
| Peace River | 104 | 36,021 | 131 | 65,908 | 212 | 89,447 | -27 | -29,887 | -45.3% |
| Rest of BC | 74 | 6,089 | 76 | 5,537 | 58 | 3,790 | -2 | 552 | 43.6% |
| Note: x indicates numbers protected due to FOIP |
| Provincial data broken down to StatsCan Census Agriculture Regions (CAR) |
| Land that was reported as "too wet to seed" has been classified as "other land" instead of cropland or summer fallow |
Data compiled by: David Wong, Market Specialist
For further information contact
Neil Blue, Provincial Crop Market Analyst
Competitiveness and Market Analysis Section
phone: 780-422-4053
email: neil.blue@gov.ab.ca
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