Agriculture

The past century has seen the growth and significant change of a dynamic agricultural industry in Alberta. The number of farms has decreased, but the average farm size has increased by more than two-fold. The area of the agricultural land base has also changed, increasing by 33 percent from 15.8 million hectares to 21.0 million hectares, covering about one third of the area of the province.

Mechanized farming and modern methods, such as the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, have enabled fewer people to do more work and produce more than was previously possible. Economic factors have favoured large-scale operations.

Primary agriculture is Alberta's largest renewable resource-based industry. Alberta accounts for 25 percent of annual Canadian agricultural production with only nine percent of Canada's population. In 1996, primary agriculture generated a record $6.4 billion in farm cash receipts. Typically, annual sales of products are about evenly balanced between crops and livestock. Agricultural processing, including food and beverage processing industries, is Alberta's largest manufacturing sector.

Combined, the agricultural production and processing sectors were the second largest employer in the province in 1996.

Today, as in the past, agricultural activity is one of the most dominant uses of land in Alberta. Most of Alberta's crop and livestock production takes place on the prairies, which are mostly semi-arid grasslands and sub-humid aspen parkland in the central and south central regions of the province. Large farming areas also occur in the southern part of the boreal forest, and in the Peace River region of northern Alberta.

The four major crop categories are cereals, oilseeds, specialty crops and forages. In 2004, wheat grossed $934 million in sales while canola seed was valued at $357 million.

Moisture is the limiting factor to crop growth in the warmer, drier brown and dark brown soil zones of southern Alberta. Irrigation is one of the primary methods of improving agricultural productivity and diversifying the range of crops grown in this region.