The Census of Agriculture provides community-level data on a wide range of agricultural topics. It identifies trends and provides information on emerging issues, opportunities, and challenges within the agricultural community. For example, topics include: land use, crops, livestock, agricultural labour, machinery and equipment, land management practices and farm finances.

The Census of Agriculture (CEAG) provides a comprehensive and integrated profile of the physical, economic, social and environmental aspects of Canada’s agriculture industry. The data produced by the CEAG program are foundational to supporting economic growth, recovery, and sustainability for the businesses in the agriculture industry, especially as itrelates to international trade, competitiveness, and advancing agricultural science and innovation such as reporting and research on climate change.

Statistics Canada prioritizes the collection of data relevant to the agriculture industry, while improving the overall cost effectiveness of the CEAG and reducing response burden. To produce the census questionnaire, Statistics Canada conducted extensive consultations (the results were published in the Statistics Canada 2026 Census of Agriculture Content Consultation Report) with different governments, agricultural operators, farm organizations, and data users. Additionally, a census test was conducted to determine whether new or revised questions under consideration can be easily understood and correctly answered.

Fewer questions for respondents to answer, using administrative data

To reduce the effort needed to complete the questionnaire, six questions have been removed from the 2026 CEAG questionnaire and will be replaced with administrative data. Additionally, some respondents will benefit from further reduction in the number of commodity-related questions thanks to the integration of additional administrative data.

As required by the Statistics Act, all data usage, including administrative data, must abide by strict confidentiality requirements.

For more detail, link here: https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/census-agriculture?MM=1

Source:  Statistics Canada