Micro Data Record Research Agriculture and Food Research Michael Trant Agriculture Division, Statistics Canada January

1. Micro Data Record Research Agriculture and Food Research Michael TrantAgriculture Division, Statistics CanadaJanuary, 2003

3. Agriculture Division • Crop Statistics • Horticulture Statistics • Livestock Statistics • Financial Statistics • Whole Farm Data Project • Census of Agriculture • Research & Analysis • Spatial Analysis & Geomatic Applications

4. Analysis and Development Section • food and agriculture issues • strengthen capacity for research and analysis • co-ordinate research and analysis initiatives • develop research partnerships with other departments and universities • publications • VISTA newsletter • Agriculture Working Paper Series

5. Research Opportunities • Objective is the publication of the results of analytic work in a Statistics Canada working paper series, Statistics Canada Publications (printed and internet), and academic Journals • Doctorate and post-doc research • Research Fellows (faculty) • Research opportunities for masters candidates • Research partnership arrangements

6. Micro Data Access • Research Data Centres • social statistics collected from individuals and households • Household data, expenditures • Health statistics • Labour statistics • Statistics Canada Ottawa • all business statistics irrespective of the size of the business • Farm survey data • Census of Agriculture

7. Requirements • Research Proposal • Special SSHRC application for social statistics micro data research in RDC • Application to Division Director for social and business statistics micro data research in Ottawa • Sign contract on researchers rights and responsibilities • Consent to a security clearance • Agree, as a “deemed employee” to abide by the: • oath/affirmation of secrecy • Provisions of the Statistics Act • Conflict of Interest and Post Employment Code

8. Research Proposal Requirements Research Proposal Requirements • Clear description of research objective and hypothesis • Description of methodology • Explain why this research is of value and how it will advance our knowledge

9. Summary • Research opportunities with Statistics Canada • RDC’s • SSHRC managed research application for work with Statistics Canada micro data on social statistics • Statistics Canada Ottawa • Proposal to Division Director for work in Ottawa with Statistics Canada micro data on business statistics • Fellows and Post Doctoral Programs • Research Partnerships with Statistics Canada Analysts • Mike Trant, Agriculture Division for food and agriculture and trade and the environment as it affects agriculture

10. Research ResultsAgriculture and Food Statistics

11. Agriculture and Food Sectors • Farming – 2% of GDP • Food Processing – 2.4% of GDP • Food Retailing – 2.6% of GDP • Agriculture and Food sectors – 7% of GDP

12. Agriculture Sector • 246,000 farms • Cash receipts = $30 billion • 2 % of GDP - nationally • Wheat production = 27 mt • Corn production = 9 mt • Barley production = 13 mt • Canola production = 9 mt • Soybeans production = 3 mt • Cattle = 13 million head • Hogs = 12 million head

13. Food Processing Sector • Food processing industry is the third largest manufacturing industry • Food processing industry contributes 2.4% to total GDP • Food processing industry is catering to changes in Canadian households (aging population, single person, single parent, culturally diverse)

14. Food Retailing Sector • Food is the second largest retailing sector • Food distribution contributes 2.6% to GDP • The sector faces increased competition from non-food retailers and international food retailers. • Food prices have been rising more slowly than prices in general.

16. International Comparison • the food industry totaled 1.3% of GDP in the United States, 2.0% in Germany, 1.3% in the United Kingdom. • using purchasing power parities, Canada has surpassed the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom in productivity (as measured by value added per worker).

17. Research ResultsAgricultural Labour and Employment

18. Recent trends in farm employment • farm employment - measured by main-job agriculture - saw steep declines between 1999 and 2001 but begins to rebound in 2002 (LFS) • down 6% in 1999 • down 13% in 2000 • down 11% in 2001 • up 10% in the first 10 months of 2002

19. Figure 3: Farm employment drops between 1999 and 2001 and begins to rebound in 2002 Main-Job in Agriculture (000’s) Source: Labour Force Survey, seasonally adjusted

20. Where is the decline • decline greatest on farms operated by self-employed farmers with no employees • paid employees in agriculture unchanged • decline in unpaid employees working on farms • more second-job agriculture farmers • fewer spouses and children working on the farm with their main-job in agriculture

21. Lack of farm profits may be pushing some people off the farm • farm profits unchanged, and at historically low levels for a number of years, • non-farm opportunities better • farm expenses have matched the rise in farm receipts • net incomes stabilizing between 4 and 5 billion dollars over the past 20 years (constant dollars)