Sales in the greenhouse fruit and vegetable plant sector increased for the ninth consecutive year, rising 9.3% to $2.0 billion in 2021.
This increase in sales is mainly attributable to a higher production of peppers (+16.1%) and tomatoes (+8.5%). The sales of cucumbers also increased by 12.0% (to $604.4 million) despite a decline in production, largely because of a large increase in the price of that commodity (+18.7%).
Greenhouse operations supply more than domestic markets. In 2021, total exports of greenhouse tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers reached 489.1 million kg, which represented a 12.3% increase over 2020.
Sales of greenhouse strawberries, which have only recently been introduced in North American greenhouses, increased 19.1% to $18.5 million in 2021 due to higher prices (+11.4%) and production (+6.9%). Saskatchewan was the fastest-growing province with an increase of 29.2% in production. However, Ontario is still the largest producer of greenhouse strawberries, with a total of 2.2 million kilograms produced in 2021.
-Stats Canada