The World of Apples

Apples of Canada

59 varieties in the atlas came from Canada. The oldest is Fameuse, dated by about 1730.

Map of where the apple varieties in the atlas came from A map of the world on the Equal Earth projection, with a dot for each variety at its place of origin.

Harvest

Canada grew 386,368 tonnes of apples in 2024, 0.39% of the world's harvest; it ranked 31st among the world's producers.1

1961 2024
The figures
YearTonnes
2024 386,368
2023 358,514
2022 382,456
2021 351,565
2020 390,999
2019 382,771
2018 402,978
2017 402,082
2016 417,989
2015 348,508
2014 409,839
2013 427,201
2012 282,766
2011 420,102
2010 371,025
2009 435,491
2008 426,858
2007 446,367
2006 402,773
2005 414,445
2004 386,297
2003 402,416
2002 352,285
2001 488,485
2000 530,256
1999 621,392
1998 520,375
1997 503,570
1996 512,984
1995 598,902
1994 553,729
1993 483,529
1992 564,071
1991 515,531
1990 541,250
1989 536,630
1988 500,660
1987 490,050
1986 388,175
1985 478,605
1984 434,247
1983 484,853
1982 477,626
1981 422,379
1980 552,589
1979 434,898
1978 451,938
1977 411,420
1976 409,172
1975 460,438
1974 406,334
1973 374,691
1972 392,805
1971 391,136
1970 405,520
1969 435,241
1968 400,896
1967 436,644
1966 421,753
1965 450,928
1964 409,289
1963 470,193
1962 404,610
1961 337,226

Varieties from Canada, oldest first

  • Watercolour painting of Fameuse apples by Ellen Isham Schutt.

    Fameuse

    The Snow apple of Quebec, of obscure origin in Canada or France; SNP data make it a likely grandparent of McIntosh

    Canada, by about 1730

  • Watercolour painting of McIntosh apples by James Marion Shull.

    McIntosh

    A seedling found in the Ontario bush; its discovery and development became a national historic event of Canada in 1999

    Canada, 1811

  • Watercolour painting of Melba apples by Mary Daisy Arnold.

    Melba

    Raised at Ottawa from McIntosh seed sown in 1898, first fruiting in 1908; a parent of at least ten later apples

    Canada, 1898

  • Geneva

    A crab raised at Ottawa from a 1920 seedling of a red-fleshed wild apple; a standard host for testing apple scab races

    Canada, 1920

  • Photograph of Spartan apples at the National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, on the tree.

    Spartan

    Bred at Summerland from a 1926 cross; "probably the most important apple variety introduced ever in British Columbia"

    Canada, 1926

  • Ambrosia

    A seedling that came up by chance in a Cawston orchard about 1987; fourth in Canada's 2025/26 apple forecast

    Canada, about 1987

And 53 more in the catalogue, A to Z

Sources

  1. FAOSTAT: Production: Crops and livestock products, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Updated 31 December 2025. Supports: each country's apple harvest by year (item 515, apples, in tonnes, 1961 to 2024), the shares of the world's harvest and the ranks worked out from them, and which figures FAOSTAT estimated or imputed.