Agriculture and Food Value Chain Facts 2006

• The top five Alberta agri-food exports in 2005 were beef ($1.4 billion), wheat ($786 million), pork ($464 million), canola seed ($418 million) and live cattle ($271 million). In 2005, Alberta exported live cattle for the first time since the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) discovery on May 20, 2003. The United States reopened its border to Canadian live cattle on July 18, 2005.
• Value added exports represented 61.4 per cent or $3.1 billion of Alberta's total agri-food exports in 2005. There were increased exports of pork, prepared cereals, sugar, hides and skins, bovine semen and embryos, and peat moss. The United States is Alberta's largest market for value added exports. In 2005, almost 80 per cent of all agri-food products exported to the United States were value added products.
• Alberta beef production reached the second highest total on record in 2005. Carcass and boxed beef production was an estimated 856,720 tonnes, or four per cent below last year’s record high. Beef consumption in the province was about 13 per cent of production. The majority of Alberta’s beef is shipped out of province, with 32 per cent exported to the United States, six per cent to other countries and 49 per cent to other provinces in Canada.
• Alberta is the largest cattle-producing province in Canada. It led the nation in cattle and calf inventories, with 5.9 million head at January 1, 2006, or nearly 40 per cent of the national total.
• Nearly two-thirds of Canadian beef processing occurs in Alberta. In 2005, cattle slaughter in federally and provincially inspected plants (excluding calves), was 2.5 million head or about 63 per cent of the Canadian total of 3.9 million. The Alberta slaughter also represented roughly 87 per cent of the Western Canadian total of 2.8 million head.
• Grains and oilseeds accounted for 25.9 per cent of Alberta's total crop and livestock market receipts in 2005. Cattle and calves accounted for 45.2 per cent of the total. The remainder was made up of 8.2 per cent for hogs, 5.9 per cent for dairy products and 14.8 per cent for all other commodities.
• There are 53,652 farms in Alberta, with approximately 149,000 people living in rural farm households (2001 Census). Total Alberta farmland area is 52.1 million acres, with an average farm size of 970 acres.
• In 2005, Alberta accounted for 21.3 per cent of Canadian farm cash receipts generated from primary agriculture.
• Alberta farm cash receipts totalled $7.9 billion in 2005. Livestock and livestock products accounted for 56.4 per cent of these receipts, with crops and direct program payments accounting for 29.4 per cent and 14.2 per cent, respectively.
• In 2005, Alberta contributed 47.8 per cent ($3.1 billion) of total Canadian cattle and calf market receipts, and 14.1 per cent ($551.5 million) of hog receipts.
• During the past decade, Alberta produced 28 per cent of the nation’s wheat crop, 34 per cent of the canola, 44 per cent of the barley, and 23 per cent of the oats.
• Alberta crop market receipts were $2.3 billion in 2005. Significant contributions to the national totals included sugar beets at 100 per cent, canola at 39.8 per cent, wheat at 32.2 per cent, hay and clover at 30.4 per cent, barley at 27.8 per cent, and dry peas at 20.3 per cent.
• The value of shipments of manufactured food and beverage products totalled $9.6 billion in 2005.
• In 2005, food and beverage manufacturing industries represented the third largest manufacturing sector in the province (16.2 per cent of total manufacturing shipments). Petroleum and coal products manufacturing (21.5 per cent) ranked first followed by chemical manufacturing industries (17.8 per cent).
• Meat, dairy and poultry processing is at the heart of primary production and food processing activity in Alberta. Combined shipments for these industries totalled $6.0 billion in 2005 (69.8 per cent of total food processing). Meat and poultry processing totalled $4.7 billion, while dairy product manufacturing totalled $1.3 billion.
• Alberta dairy producers generated $398.7 million in farm market receipts in 2005, or 8.2 per cent of the Canadian total. Farm market receipts from the province's poultry and egg industry were $211.7 million or 8.6 per cent of the national total.
• In 2005, agriculture and food processing industries employed 78,500 Albertans, with 56,200 in primary agriculture and 22,300 in food and beverage industries.
• Alberta's agri-food industry contributes about 3.0 per cent to the province's real Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
• Agri-food capital investment expenditures in Alberta in 2005 were an estimated $979.9 million in primary agriculture and $185.6 million in food and beverage manufacturing. Agri-food expenditures represent about two per cent of total investment in the province.
• Producers spent an estimated $6.3 billion in farm operating expenses in 2004. Commercial feed was the largest single expense at approximately $1.0 billion.
• Total farm capital in Alberta was valued at approximately $55.3 billion in 2004, consisting of $42.6 billion in land and buildings, $8.8 billion in machinery and equipment, and $3.8 billion in livestock and poultry.
• Alberta sales from supermarkets, convenience/specialty food stores and beer/wine/liquor stores were $10.3 billion in 2005. At $4.5 billion in 2005, restaurant, caterer and tavern receipts were 8.1 per cent higher than in 2004.
• In 2004, Alberta households spent an average of $7,125 on food, representing 10.0 per cent of the total household expenditure. About 77 per cent of the food expenditure was attributable to purchases from stores. The remainder was purchased from restaurants.