The farm-gate value of certified organic fruits and vegetables increased by 2.9% to reach $171.8 million in 2024. Production of organic vegetables rose 4.8%, to 49.1 million kilograms, while organic fruit production declined 2.9% to 43.5 million kilograms. As usual, weather played a key role— a cold snap in British Columbia drastically reduced production for some organic fruit crops, while a drier summer in Eastern Canada led to a larger organic vegetable harvest.
Cultivated area of certified organic cranberry down by almost one-fifth
The total cultivated area of certified organic fruit decreased by 5.3% from one year earlier to 11 404 hectares in 2024. Certified organic fruits accounted for 8.2% of total fruit cultivated area, down 8.7% from 2023.
Notably, Quebec's certified organic cranberry cultivated area continued to decline in 2024, decreasing by almost one-sixth (-16.1%) to 962 hectares.
The farm-gate value of organic fruit decreased 2.3% to $73.1 million in 2024, with the farm-gate values of strawberries (+26.3%), highbush blueberries (+18.3%) and apples (+6.9%) recovering from a challenging year in 2023.
In 2024, approximately one-third of total organic fruit farm-gate value came from apples ($23.5 million), just over one-quarter (27.1%) from cranberries at $19.8 million, and one-tenth (9.8%) from grapes at $7.7 million. Grape farm-gate value decreased by 14.6%, mainly because of arecord cold snap in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia.
Canada imports four times as many certified organic blueberries as it exports
In 2024, Canada exported 1.1 million kilograms of fresh, cultivated, certified organic blueberries exclusively from British Columbia, essentially unchanged from 2023.
Conversely, Canada imported 4.9 million kilograms of blueberries in 2024. Almost all imports originated from the United States (61.3%), Peru (26.0%) and Mexico (6.7%).
Two-thirds of the certified organic vegetable cultivated area is located in Quebec
In 2024, the total cultivated area for certified organic vegetables grew by 1.5% to 5 688 hectares. The share of the total field vegetable area dedicated to certified organic cultivation edged up 0.2 percentage points from 2023 to 5.5% in 2024.
Quebec accounted for two-thirds (66.8%) of the certified organic vegetable area in 2024, while Ontario represented 20.6% and British Columbia, 8.0%.
Since the first release of fruit and vegetable organic data, in 2020, the farm-gate value of organic vegetables has steadily grown, rising by 64.0% from 2019 to 2024. This increase is more pronounced than that of the combined sectors (organic and conventional), which saw 32.4% growth over the same period.
In 2024, certified organic vegetable sales reached $98.8 million, accounting for 7.1% of the total farm-gate value of all field vegetables.
Quebec ($57.4 million) accounted for the largest share (58.1%) of certified organic vegetable sales in 2024, followed by Ontario ($16.1 million) and British Columbia ($14.0 million).
More domestically grown certified organic carrots
Canada imported an average of 9.6 million kilograms of certified organic carrots in 2023 and 2024. Nevertheless, domestically grown certified organic carrots are capturing a larger share of the market. Indeed, their share of the certified organic carrot supply rose from 34.8% in 2023 to 42.7% in 2024.
Note to readers
These estimates should be used with caution. The organic farm database, which was used to identify which farms in the Fruits and Vegetables Survey are organic, is not complete. Therefore, there may be undercoverage in the estimates. The use of administrative data to improve the quality of the estimates has been limited to Quebec.
The estimates of cultivated area and production for certified organic fruits and vegetables were derived from the Fruits and Vegetables Survey. The Fruits and Vegetables Survey tracks the total cultivated area, harvested area, total production, marketed production and farm-gate value of selected fruits and vegetables grown in Canada, including in certified organic and conventional farms. Our regular release for the entire estimates was published on February 17, 2025.
Administrative data sources were also used, such as cultivated area collected by the Conseil des appellations réservées et des termes valorisants, to enhance the quality of the data until 2023.
Farm-gate value is the value received by producers at the point of first transaction, when ownership first changes hands. This value excludes any separately billed costs such as delivery, storage, marketing and administration.
For more information on agriculture and food, visit the Agriculture and food statistics portal.
Reference
Data table: 32-10-0212-01.
- Note: some data tables may best be viewed on desktop.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3407.
Previous release: Certified organic fruit and vegetable production estimates, 2023.
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).