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Alberta grows A LOT of canola!

In Alberta we have 14,000 amazing farmers that grow canola over 6,685,992 acres of farmland. Canola isn’t just the beautiful yellow crop  you see in fields across this province – canola is a versatile, renewable, sustainable, affordable, nutritious, economic driver of Alberta and Canada!

We export more canola than we can use domestically here in Canada which means canola increases our GDP and the number is in the BILLIONS!

How we measure economic impact

When farmers’ sell their livestock, eggs, milk, grains, and  seed oils – such as canola – they receive back a receipt. These are called farm cash receipts or FCRs’. Every time a farmer is paid for selling an agriculture commodity and they receive a receipt or farm credit receipt, it is recorded. This is how the government, and the agriculture industry can track the contribution the agriculture industry and each type of grain or livestock or byproduct has on the Canadian economy.

Did you know

Canola is Canada’s oil? Just look at the name – Can (for Canada) and ola (for oil)!

In 2021…

The total of Canadian farm cash receipts $81.9 BILLION

$12 BILLION just in canola!

Alberta’s agriculture industry recorded $18.6 BILLION in FCR’s nationally

In Alberta farm cash receipts for canola were $4 BILLION

That’s 30% of the Canadian total.

Source: Statistics Canada

Canola oil is:

The healthiest oil

Lowest in saturate fat (7%)

Canada produces over 30% of the world’s canola supply and accounts for approximately 60% of the global trade of canola.

Canola production in Canada was 20.3 MILLION tonnes in 2022.

Canola creates 207,130 jobs nationally.

Canola is Canada’s most valuable crop, and it contributes over $29.9 BILLION annually to the economy.


Alberta farmers significantly drive the rural economy by spending $19 BILLION in operating expenses.

Agriculture is the #1 renewable resource in Alberta.

Canola directly employs over 40,191 Albertans and has an economic impact of $13 BILLION here in Alberta.

Approximately 20% of the world’s canola oil is produced in Canada based on the numbers below.

1. Canada: 18,362,000 MT

  1. China: 14,853,000 MT
  2. India: 7,946,000 MT
  3. Australia: 3,814,000 MT
  4. Ukraine: 2,367,000 MT
  5. Russia: 1,437,000 MT
  6. United States: 1,013,000 MT
  7. Belarus: 681,000 MT
  8. Pakistan: 322,000 MT
  9. Kazakhstan: 240,000 MT