Number of employees in the agriculture sector, 2023
Released: 2025-05-09
Slight increase in number of employees working in the agriculture sector in 2023
There were 280,798 employees in the agriculture sector in 2023, up 0.9% from 2022.
Almost half of all agricultural workers were employed by the horticulture industry in 2023, led by greenhouse, nursery and floriculture production (+2.6% to 63,690), vegetable and melon (+1.3% to 34,887) and fruit and tree nut (+2.6% to 31,061) farms.
Almost half (49.5%) of all employees in the agriculture sector in 2023 were seasonal employees, up 0.6% from 2022. Over one-fifth (22.7%) of all seasonal employees worked at greenhouse, nursery and floriculture operations, up 4.8%.
Farms in Ontario hired the most employees (82,348) in 2023; their number rose 3.1% from one year earlier. Quebec followed, with 69,065 employees in 2023, up 0.9% compared with one year earlier.
More temporary foreign workers employed in agriculture sector in 2023
The agriculture sector employed 79,734 temporary foreign workers in 2023, up 23.3% from one year earlier. This was the largest increase since 2016.
In 2023, just over four-fifths of all temporary foreign workers came from Mexico (41.6%), Guatemala (26.2%) and Jamaica (12.4%).
Compared with one year earlier, the number of temporary foreign workers from Guatemala rose 4,643 in 2023, up 28.6%. This was the largest increase among the countries that contributed to this vital pool of labour.
Over two in five temporary foreign workers (42.3%) were employed in the agriculture sector in Ontario (33,715 people), with just over half (55.8%) of them working in greenhouse, nursery and floriculture operations.
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Note to readers
The number of employees was derived from T4 slips produced by agricultural businesses identified by the Agriculture Taxation Data Program. The "full-time," "part-time" and "seasonal employee" categories were derived from these employees' employment incomes, which were compared with the median wage of agricultural workers in their industry as reported in the Labour Force Survey, as well as the monthly employee account reported by agricultural businesses through payroll deductions and payments.
Starting with the 2020 reference year, a farm is defined as an operation that produces at least one agricultural product and will report revenue and/or expenses for that agricultural production to the Canada Revenue Agency, as opposed to the previous definition based on the intention to sell agricultural commodities. Data prior to 2020 have been revised to align with the most recent definition.
Data for this series are subject to revision up to five years prior to the current reference year.
Today's release on estimates of agricultural employees is part of Statistics Canada's AgZero modernization project. This project uses leading-edge methods, data integration and advanced technologies to reduce the response burden on farmers to as close to zero as possible.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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