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Canadian farm worker numbers take significant nosedive Statistics Canada survey data shows that the number of people employed in agriculture in Canada has dropped by 52,000 Glacier FarmMedia — The number of people employed in Canadian agriculture has plummeted since 2020, dropping by about 52,000 workers. In June 2020, 277,700 people reported working in agricultural jobs, says data from the Labour Force Survey, a Statistics Canada program. In June 2026, about 225,000 people said they were employed in agriculture. That’s a decline of 19 per cent in six years. Why It Matters Having 52,700 fewer workers in Canadian agriculture is a massive decline in only six years. How did this happen? The Labour Force Survey is a household poll, done monthly by StatCan. The data provides information on labour market trends and “shifts in employment” within industrial sectors, says the StatCan website. Julain Alvarez, a Statistics Canada analyst, said the survey results are reliable. “Absolutely. We conduct the survey (for) about 65,000 households every month,” he said. “We random sample … and for a span of six months people respond to the survey…. Our response rate is about 80 per cent.… We are very confident about the data.” The Labour Force Survey classifies people who work in agriculture into the following sub-categories: Read Also - Crop production. - Animal production and aquaculture. - Support activities for crop production or animal production. - Farming not classified elsewhere, which could be areas such as maple syrup harvesting or seed production. Sometimes, agriculture is lumped together with other industries for statistical collection, but this data and the job numbers are directly connnected to crops, livestock and farming employment, said a Statistics Canada spokesperson. “Forestry, logging, fishing and hunting are not included in the agriculture industry. Instead, these activities are classified within a separate LFS (Labour Force Survey) industry grouping.” Worker numbers have declined for decades Historical data shows the number of people working in Canadian agriculture has dropped, consistently, over the last 50 to 60 years. “I look at numbers from September of 1993. There were 400,000 people employed in agriculture,” Alvarez said. “Almost twice the amount we see today.” A line graph from Statistics Canada illustrates his point. About 350,000 people reported having agricultural jobs in 2006 and 220,000 in 2026. However, the decline has accelerated since 2020, with a severe plunge on the graph and the number of workers. Some of that is connected to COVID-19 and restrictions that forced Canadians to stay home. From April 2021 to April 2022, about 21,000 fewer people were employed in agriculture However, following the peak of the pandemic, the number of people employed in agriculture continued to slide. It went from 256,000 in June 2023 to 237,000 in June 2025. The sinking numbers are connected to the labour shortfall in the industry, says the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council. Farmers and agricultural businesses say it’s nearly impossible to find employees for available positions. “More than 28,200 jobs were estimated to have gone unfilled in the agriculture sector during the peak season in 2022,” said a CAHRC report from 2024. The Statistics Canada labour force data, showing a 52,000 person decline in the number of people employed in farming since 2020, can be explained by the chronic labour shortage in agriculture, said Jennifer Wright, CAHRC executive director. “(This is) driven by an aging workforce, retirements, insufficient numbers of young people entering the sector, competition for talent from other industries,” she said. “Lower levels of employment do not necessarily mean that labour demand has declined. It simply indicates that employers were unable to recruit the workers they needed.” Missing temporary foreign workers? Certain sectors within Canadian agriculture, including beekeepers, pork producers, feedlots and vegetable growers, rely heavily on temporary foreign workers, who come to Canada for the growing season or live in the country year-round. Is it possible the Labour Force Survey from Statistics Canada may not capture the population of foreign workers who have jobs in Canadian agriculture? The survey is thorough and considers all people, including Canadian citizens, permanent residents and non-permanent residents, Alvarez said. “(It) is randomized and it works geographically…. They (get) addresses and if there’s a NPR (non-permanent resident) living at that address, then (they respond).” Still, is it realistic to get non-permanent residents to respond to a government survey? Maybe the job numbers for agriculture are missing temporary foreign workers. A Statistics Canada spokesperson said the agency takes precautions to ensure that the responses and data are representative of Canadians, permanent residents and non-permanent residents. “As a standard statistical practice, responses provided by LFS (Labour Force Survey) respondents are weighted so that the sample of respondents is representative of the total population,” she said. “The population totals used in this weighting process include non-permanent residents.” Having 52,000 fewer people working in agricultural jobs, compared to six years ago, is not a statistical error. It could mean that the labour crisis in agriculture is even worse than reported. Anecdotal evidence and job postings indicate that grain, livestock and horticultural producers are desperate for employees. The saskjobs.ca website, as of Aug. 11, had 172 help wanted postings for farm jobs in Saskatchewan. The available positions include combine operator, dairy herdsperson, apiary workers, general farm worker and farm truck driver, to name a few. That is just one employment website for Saskatchewan, and it doesn’t include the farmers who have given up on finding employees. “CAHRC estimates that tens of thousands of agricultural positions remain unfilled during peak seasons,” Wright said.