Most vegetables grown in Canada won’t be ready for harvest until mid-summer or the fall, but Canadians can enjoy domestically grown asparagus starting in May. Canadian farmers grew enough asparagus in 2022 to make almost 21 million asparagus frittatas.
Canadian farmers sold 9 348 metric tonnes of asparagus in spring 2022, up 7.5% from one year earlier and the second-largest harvest on record. Farmers grew over three times more asparagus in 2022 than they did two decades earlier.
Farmers sold a record high $48.7 million worth of asparagus in 2022, almost double the sales from one decade earlier.
Ontario (75.6%) and Quebec (17.4%) accounted for over 90% of Canada’s total asparagus production in 2022.
Statistics Canada counted 1,005 farms that grew asparagus commercially during the 2021 Census of Agriculture.
Asparagus availability is up, but so is the cost
Statistics Canada’s food availability table, which indicates the amount of food that is physically present in a country for consumption, shows that there was 0.81 kilograms of fresh asparagus available per Canadian in 2021, a record high and over twice as much as two decades earlier (0.37 kilograms).
You may be paying more for your locally grown fresh asparagus this year. According to the Consumer Price Index, Canadians paid on average 10.8% more year over year in March for “other fresh vegetables,” an aggregate that includes asparagus.
Looking for more fresh veggie data?
Check out the Fruit and vegetable production release in The Daily.
Contact information
For more information, contact the Statistical Information Service (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).