It's a good question. The good news here in Canada is that still 97% of farms are family farms. They're owned by mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. They could have multiple shareholders that include cousins, nieces, nephews, etc., but the challenge we're facing is that we're losing, again, 500 to 1,000 family farms each year.
The other challenge we're facing, which I think the CFA could speak to a little more, is that there are around 190,000 farms across the country, but about 25% of those produce 90% of the food that we export globally and use here in Canada. There are a lot of farms out there that I would consider hobby farms. I have a friend who lives in Kemptville, for example. He has a nine-acre farm. I wouldn't necessarily consider that a major operation.
When we're talking about farms that are actually producing the food that Canadians and the world rely on, we're talking about farms that are 3,000 acres, 4,000 acres or 5,000 acres in the Prairies. In Ontario, you're probably looking at 400 acres to 800 acres. If you just do quick math on farmland value, that's where the challenge with the capital gains happens.
I'll give you some statistics. For the data, we could go as far back as 1996. In Alberta, the cost per acre was $554 in 1996. Today, it's worth $6,900. In Ontario, the cost per acre in 1996 was $1,620. Today, it's worth over $19,000. It's really just a question of the increasing farmland value. That's why farmers are getting hit in general by capital gains, but now they're being hit again by a capital gains tax increase.