Agriculture
Farming Jobs
Greater Victoria had strong growth in farming jobs from 2001 to 2006, increasing by 30% compared to only 5% growth provincially and a decline of 1% in Metro Vancouver.
On a relative basis, agriculture is not a strength of the Greater Victoria economy as farming jobs are only 38% as prevalent compared to farming jobs in the province overall.
These employment figures from the Census are for "place of work", meaning they are jobs that have a fixed location in Greater Victoria, regardless of where the worker lives.
Census employment is often not the best indicator of agricultural activity because it measures each individual's primary source of employment, yet many farmers do it on a part-time basis and have other jobs as their main source of income.
|
Farming Jobs |
Jobs |
Job Growth, 2001-2006 |
Location Quotients* (relative to BC) |
||
|
2001 |
2006 |
2001 |
2006 |
||
|
BC |
32,040 |
33,555 |
5% |
1.00 |
1.00 |
|
Greater Victoria |
860 |
1,120 |
30% |
0.31 |
0.38 |
|
Metro Vancouver |
7,880 |
7,795 |
-1% |
0.45 |
0.43 |
| Source: Statistics Canada Census | |||||
Agriculture Land Use and Production Value
The number of farms in Greater Victoria and their gross receipts grew between 2000 and 2005, while the number of acres under cultivation fell by 26.5%. These trends are consistent with what happened in the province as a whole over the period.
Relative to the provincial totals, Greater Victoria's share of land under cultivation and gross receipts were stable between 2000 and 2005. With only 0.8% of the land under cultivation, yet 2.2% of the gross receipts, Greater Victoria's agricultural products have higher values than the BC average.
Agricultural land use and value of production measures the size of agriculture in a region.
Comparing the share of land under cultivation and value of farm receipts to the province measures the relative value of crops.
|
Agriculture Production in Greater Victoria |
2000 |
2005 |
Change, 2000-2005 |
|
Total Farms |
974 |
991 |
1.7% |
|
Total Land Under Cultivation (hectares) |
5,247 |
3,858 |
-26.5% |
|
Gross Farm Receipts |
$50,317,248 |
$54,261,663 |
7.8% |
|
Share of Provincial Land Under Cultivation |
0.7% |
0.8% |
0.2 pp |
|
Share of Gross Provincial Farm Receipts |
2.0% |
2.2% |
0.1 pp |
| Source: Statistics Canada Census of Agriculture. | |||