Farm direct sales are far more than the traditional roadside fruit or veggie stand

If you are lucky enough to find yourself driving across Canada this summer, chances are, you will come across a farm stand along the way. In fact, over one-third of all fruit and vegetable farms had an on-site stand in the summer of 2020.

Almost half of the farms you drive past in Newfoundland and Labrador sell directly to their customer, with a smile no doubt.

Almost one in seven farms (13.6%) of the 189,874 farms we counted during the 2021 Census of Agriculture sold their products directly to Canadian consumers in 2020, up from 12.7% of farms in 2015.

Farmers sell directly to consumers in every province and territory except Nunavut

We counted 25,917 farms that sold their products directly to Canadian consumers in 2020, with every province and territory except Nunavut reporting farm-direct sales. Three-quarters of the farms that sold directly to consumers in 2020 were located in Ontario (7,697 farms), Quebec (6,131) and British Columbia (5,381).

Nearly half (46.5%) of farms in Newfoundland and Labrador reported direct sales in 2020, the highest share nationally and up from 34.2% in 2015. British Columbia (34.0%) ranked second in the share of farms reporting direct sales and Nova Scotia (30.3%) ranked third.

Most of the farms that reported direct sales sold unprocessed agricultural products such as fruit, veggies or maple syrup (95.9%), while nearly one in six (14.8%) sold value-added products such as pies, sausages or jams.

Half of farms that sell directly to customers deliver

On-site stands remained the most frequently reported direct sales method in 2020, with 15,647 farms—or 8.2% of all farms in Canada—reporting having a stand. However, there were 11.3% fewer on-site farm stands in 2020 compared with five years earlier.

Over one-third of all fruit and tree nut (34.3%) and vegetable and melon (34.1%) farms had an on-site stand in the summer of 2020.

Of the farms that reported direct sales, three in five (60.4%) had an on-site farm store, stand, kiosk, U-pick or farm gate sales, while half (50.2%) delivered directly to the customer.

Approximately one in six farms (16.0%) that reported direct sales sold their products at a farmers’ market, while 9.8% sold their goods at an off-site store or stand.

Direct sales are the sole source of operating revenue for thousands of farms

Almost one-third (29.6%) of the farms that reported direct sales derived all of their operating revenue from selling directly to consumers in 2020.

Nearly half (47.8%) of poultry and egg farms engaged in direct sales in 2020 derived 100% of their operating revenue from customer sales, the highest share nationally, followed by vegetable and melon (44.7%) and fruit and tree nut (42.9%) farms.

Looking to cherry-pick your own farm data?

We’ve got quite the selection of fresh farm data and, best of all, they are free.

Our interactive Census of Agriculture: Farm and Farm Operator Data Visualization Tool allows you to dig deep into our farm data.

Check out the report Canada’s farms are adjusting the ways they sell their products to consumers to learn more about farm direct sales.