Punjabi Being The 2nd Largest Official language of Canadian Farmers
According to the most recent Statistics Canada study, which was issued on Friday, Punjabi is the second most common mother tongue among immigrants who work on farms in Canada. According to the research, Punjabi is the mother tongue of 18.5% of all immigrant farm workers. German is at the top of the list with 23%, closely followed by Dutch with 18.2%.
The top five mother tongues spoken by immigrants working on farms in Canada were identified in the report.
- German (23%) is the most common language
- Punjabi (18%)
- Dutch (18.2%)
- Mandarin (4.5%)
- Italian (2–9) percent.
Further, it claims that in 2021, 6.9% of all farmers in Canada will be immigrants. There were 5,90,710 people who worked on farms as of 2021. It equals 1.6 percent of Canada’s whole population.
The “Agriculture-Population Linkage” findings demonstrate that Canada’s farm population is evolving. Farm households are becoming smaller and more varied. Furthermore, farm households are more prevalent in metropolitan areas, and they continue to earn more than the general population. The farming population of immigrants influences Canadian agriculture.
The farm population’s ethnocultural diversity is influenced by immigrants. This is crucial because a diverse farm population offers a wide range of abilities, knowledge, viewpoints, and cultural influences that might enhance the possibility of greater productivity within the agricultural industry.
Canada’s overall population increased from 18.7% of immigrants in 2001 to 23.1% in 2021. The Statistics Canada research also reveals that only 4% of those living on farms belong to a racialized group. People from racialized groups made up 3.7% of Canada’s total farm population in 2021.
Over half (53.0%) of the 21,910 individuals in the agricultural population who described themselves as belonging to a racialized group were South Asian, followed by Chinese (15.8%). As the third-largest racialized group, blacks (5.9%) and Latin Americans (5.9%) were tied.
In 2021, Métis (11,225) made up more than two-thirds (67.2%) of the Indigenous agricultural population, continuing to be the largest group. People of First Nations made up the second-highest group (4,825).
Interestingly, compared to the general population, the farm population includes a higher proportion of men and older adults. Men made up more than half (52.5%) of the agricultural population in 2021, compared to just under half (49.4%) of the entire population.
Additionally, there are more senior citizens in the farming community. In 2021, more than 40.3% of males who worked on farms were 55 years of age or older, compared to 31.2% of all men. In contrast to 33.5% of the general population, 41.0% of women in the agricultural population were 55 years of age or older.
In contrast to the general population, the farm population had lower percentages of men and women under the age of 35. Men on farms made up 38.2% of the population in 2021, compared to 42.8% of the general population. In the farm population, 34.4% of women were under 35, compared to 40.1% in the general population.
Another finding of the study is that people who live on farms are more likely to identify as religious than people in general. While 65.4% of the population as a whole indicated a religious connection in 2021, nearly three-quarters (72.5%) of those living on farms did.
Farm households are not an exception to the general socioeconomic trend in Canada towards smaller households.
A farm household’s total income includes all of its members’ incomes, whether or not those sources are connected to farming. Farm households’ median annual income in 1970 was $36,511 (calculated using constant 2020 dollars).
The percentage of agricultural households reporting alternative kinds of income as their primary source of income increased from 23.7% in 2015 to 29.0% in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Other government revenue, like federal government emergency benefits obtained during the pandemic, which are represented as other sources of income, may have had an impact on this percentage increase.
Other forms of income that grew also included private retirement income. Private retirement income increased from 6.0% in 2015 to 7.4% of farm household income in 2020. This is due to an aging farm population where more farm household members are retiring.
For the purpose of raising field crops and grazing cattle, farms located mostly in rural areas require sizable tracts of agricultural land. In 2021, over three-quarters (72.2%) of farm operators who worked on grain and oilseed fields resided in rural areas.
Rural areas were home to 93.6% of the farms classified as dairy cattle and milk farms in 2021. Compared to other types of farms, these farms recorded the third-largest average acreage in Canada. Milking dairy cows twice a day, for example, necessitates regular supervision and involvement, which suggests that farm owners and their family members probably reside nearby.
