A recently-completed study reports that Wellington County farmers contribute $841 million a year to the province’s gross domestic product (GDP) and employ 12,260 people.
The county’s agri-food sector contributes $2.8 billion to national GDP.
But population growth is taking over farm land; the population is forecast to increase by 61 per cent by 2051.
The Wellington Federation of Agriculture collaborated with Wilton Consulting Group and Serecon to conduct the Agri-Food Systems Study.
The team completed a literature and data review, an economic impact analysis, and several engagement activities.
Wellington County is home to some of Canada’s most productive farmland and while it accounts for only 0.2 per cent of total land area in Ontario, it supports five per cent (418,296 acres) of the province’s field crops.
Farmers in Wellington County produce four per cent of the province’s soybeans and grain corn, and seven per cent of the province’s winter wheat. The County’s farmers are leaders in field crop production, growing:
· 10 per cent of Ontario’s acreage of corn silage
· Nine per cent of Ontario’s acreage of mixed grain
· Eight per cent of Ontario’s acreage of barley
The county is home to 12 per cent of Ontario’s dairy farms, 10 per cent of it’s poultry and egg farms, eight per cent of its hog farms and seven per cent of its equine farms.
It is also home to the Elora Raceway and casino which supports the Grand River Agriculture Society and the University of Guelph and its Elora research centre.
The report prompted the Wellington County Federation of Agriculture to make several priorities – educating the urban population about the importance of agriculture, protecting prime farmland “as the finite, and non-renewable resource it is” and supporting entrepreneurship across the agri-good system.
