Only 3 percent of total provincial land is considered arable or potentially arable, although up to 30 per cent of the province has some agriculture potential. An estimated 10 million hectares, of which over 8.5 million hectares are Crown land, are classed as open or forested grazing land used by the ranching industry. According to the 1996 Census of Agriculture, the average census farm had an area of 116 hectares. However, farm size varies greatly depending on the type of activity, from thousands of hectares in grain or ranching enterprises to less than five hectares in mushroom, greenhouse and poultry businesses. Agriculture in British Columbia is distinguished by its diversity.
Agriculture is the province's third largest primary industry, behind forestry and mining.
Farm Cash Receipts British Columbia ranks sixth among the provinces in farm cash receipts. Commodities producing the largest revenues include dairy, floriculture and nursery, poultry, beef, berries and grapes and treefruit. The largest single component of the agriculture industry in terms of assets and annual revenues is the dairy industry. Other livestock industries of key importance are cattle and calves and poultry farming. Large dairy herds are concentrated in the Lower Mainland, southeastern Vancouver Island and the North Okanagan-Shuswap area.