Highlights

2009 Spring Fruit and Vegetable Survey highlights

Canadian farmers reported planting 528,000 acres of fruits and vegetables in the spring of 2009, down 3.0% from the total in the spring of 2008.

Vegetable growers planted about 240,000 acres of vegetables, of which they expected to harvest 238,000 acres.

Harvesting area was down 1.3% from 2008. More than half (58.2%) of the 2009 crop will go to fresh markets and the rest for processing.

Quebec and Ontario continued to represent 83.7% of the expected vegetable area.

The five major processing vegetables – sweet corn, green peas, carrots, beans and tomatoes – accounted for 58.7% of the total expected vegetable area in Canada.

Farmers indicated increased plantings of lettuce, broccoli, cucumbers and gherkins, leeks and shallots. They reported however fewer green peas, tomatoes, dry onions and carrots.

Fruit operators planned to cultivate 288,000 acres of fruit, of which 190,000 acres, around two-thirds of the area, will bear fruit in 2009. This fruit-bearing area was down 3.6% from 2008.

About two-thirds of the fruit-bearing area will be processed, including almost all the low-bush blueberry, cranberry, vinifera grape and sour cherry area.

Apples, blueberries and grapes accounted for 82.6% of the planted area in 2009. New planting for apples along with other tree fruit such as peaches and pears has declined, specifically in Ontario. On the other hand, new plantings of vinifera grapes and cranberries increased in spring 2009.

2008 Mushroom Growers’ Survey highlights

Growing area for mushrooms was 5.1 million square feet in 2008, one-quarter less than it was in 2007. Harvested mushroom area, however, increased by 2.6%. Sales across Canada were $291 million dollars in 2008, a 5.9% increase from 2007.