Agriculture accounts for 1.5 per cent of provincial Gross Domestic Product in 2015, more than one per cent below the national average of 2.6 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.
This figure places British Columbia at the bottom of the table among Canada’s 10 provinces, just behind Newfoundland and Labrador with a rate of 1.6 per cent.
Only Canada’s three territories, as one might expect, record lower shares at 0.1 per cent (Yukon, Northwest Territories) and 0.2 per cent (Nunavut).By comparison, agriculture accounts for almost 10 per cent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in Saskatchewan (9.8 per cent), almost eight per cent in Nova Scotia (7.6 per cent), followed by Manitoba (5.5 per cent).
RELATED: Farmers in British Columbia make up 1.3 per cent of provincial population
In terms of value, Ontario leads all provinces in agriculture production with a total value of $15.3 billion, followed by Quebec ($9.3 billion), Alberta ($7.5 billion) and Saskatchewan ($7.4 billion).
Looking at the historical picture, agriculture was once a mainstay of Canada’s economy. Little more than a century, it accounted for 17.2 per cent of total GDP in 1926. But the 1920s was also a turning point for the Canadian economy and society. The 1921 census marked the first time that more Canadians lived in urban areas than in rural areas, as agriculture declined in importance.
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