The Rural Voice, 1991-05, Page 32FARMERS WILL BE BUSY DOING
CENSUS FORMS THIS SPRING
The count, the first since 1986, gives agriculture special attention
On top of their full load of field work this spring, farmers
will be extra busy behind their desks doing paperwork as well.
Not only will they be filling out forms for the GRIP
program, crop insurance, advanced payment app 1 i -
cations, and Ontario's recently announced
est rebate program, but farmers will also be
answering questions on at least two
census forms for the federal
government's Statistics Canada.
This year, 1991, will see the
full census undertaken across
Canada once every five
years. Farmers, as has f
been a tradition in the /
past, are singled out for
detailed inspection. They
will fillout two forms for
StatisticsCanada, says Liz Lovis
a communications officer in the
London office. One is the "Census of
Population" form that all Canadians will
fill out, and the other is a "Census of
Agriculture" form that all farmers, who sell
any agricultural product, must complete.
The forms will be delivered to all households
starting May 27 until June 1st, and then must be
completed on June 4th, says Lovis. After completion,
they are to be mailed in.
If that's not confusing enough, the province of Ontario is
also conducting a municipal enumeration during the first three
inter -
,a
weeks of May, and Statistics Canada is also doing its annual
National Farm Survey, which only hits a small percentage of
farmers and is used more to track trends in agriculture than the
full census, which acts as a bench mark.
The municipal enumeration, to determine municipal
voters' lists and school support, is fairly simple, says Lovis, and
consists of a form already filled with information that must
simply be confirmed by the household and mailed back in.
The "Census of Agriculture" form is a lengthy 12 -page
form of 196 questions that producers must fill out.
"Agriculture is special," says Lovis when asked why
farmers have to fill out the extra forms. "It (the census)
helps marketing boards and agriculture groups,
governments, economic development
committees, processors, and business and
industry track the agriculture industry."
"It also determines, for instance,
the social service aspect, such as how
many woman are working on and
• off the farm, how many need
• day care, and what senior
• citizen services will be
needed," says Lovis. It also
determines the number of people
in electoral districts for federal and
provincial elections. She suggests one
member of the household, perhaps the
bookkeeper, fill out the forms
Although all farmers get the same
"Census of Agriculture" form, there is a short and
long form of the "Census of Population" form. Most
people will get the short form, with about 20 per cent
required to complete the long questionnaire.
Although everyone in the country is required by law to
complete the questionnaires, Lovis says most people are glad
to do it to help the nation. Although it's against the law to fudge
on the forms Lovis says "random spot checks in the past have
confirmed that people are basically honest."0
Past agricultural census have shown Canada's farm pop-
ulation has decreased from 31.7 per cent of the total population
in 1931 to 3.7 per cent in 1986. Over the same period, the
average size of the Canadian farm has increased from 223 acres
to 571 acres. In 1901 the average farm was only 124 acres.
The last census in 1986 revealed that 44 per cent of the farm
population have at least a secondary school diploma, up from
14 per cent in 1971.
Lovis says the new data, which is strictly confidential, will
be entered into computers by August, checked, and initial
counts on agriculture will be available some time early next
year.° by Jim Fitzgerald
• 15
w
25
20
15
10
1,14
I lib
1931 — 31.7%
1941 — 27.4%
1951 — 20.8%
1956 — 17.1%
1961 — 11.7%
1966 — 9.8%
471
1971 — 6.9%
1976 — 5.5%
1981 — 4.4%
1986 — 3.7%
1991-1
fhb
How many persons will be left in agriculture when the 1991
census is completed? This chart, produced by Statistics
Canada, shows the steady decline in farm population numbers
over the past 50 years.
28 THE RURAL VOICE