Norfolk County In Context

Norfolk County is located in southwestern Ontario adjacent to Elgin County, Oxford County, Brant County and Haldimand County on the north shore of Lake Erie. As a municipality of 61,000, Norfolk County offers a variety of both urban and rural land settings. The economy of Norfolk County relies heavily on agriculture and the tourism industry. The County contains an extensive part of the shoreline along Lake Erie. This shoreline includes Turkey Point and Long Point Provincial Parks.

Many tourists are drawn to the County for various reasons such as the Backus Woods Conservation Area, festivals and recreational fishing.

Facts & Figures

• Located between Elgin County and the new Haldimand County, Norfolk is a restructured municipality consisting of a number of smaller towns and townships including the former Townships of Norfolk and Delhi, Town of Simcoe, and part of the former City of Nanticoke.
• Norfolk is the location of Long Point, which is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.
• Norfolk County has a population of roughly 61,000 people. There are approximately 24,500 dwellings in Norfolk County, the majority of which being single detached residences.
• The average household income in Norfolk is approximately $52,000.
• The labour force participation rate is roughly 64%.
• The largest sectors of the economy are agriculture, manufacturing and retail trade.
• Norfolk's economy varies from agri-business to manufacturing to tourism.
• Norfolk has a variety of industries including RDS Data Group Inc., Good Humour-Breyers, Fernlea Flowers Limited, DeCloet Industries, Borg-Warner Automotive (Canada) Ltd., Delhi Industries Inc., Alcatel Cable, and Canvil.
• There are major business/industrial parks in Simcoe, Delhi, and Courtland. There are roughly 90 acres of available industrial land these parks.
• Across Norfolk, small grains (excluding wheat) and other field crops comprise the majority of farm types. In livestock, cattle, dairy, poultry and pork operations are found in the area. Specialty crops comprise 9% of regional farm types, while fruit crops represent 3% and vegetables cover 5%. Livestock and other combinations represent 4% of all farms.
• Key field crops are corn for grain, soybeans, tobacco, tame hay, rye, alfalfa, winter wheat, barley, oats, corn for silage, forage seed, spring wheat and potatoes.
• The diverse agricultural industry in Norfolk includes certain speciatly crops, such as peanuts, shitake mushrooms, garlic, citronella, oriental vegetables, ginseng and popcorn.
• Local agri-business products for export include flowers, wine, chocolate covered peanuts, bees and horseradish
• Norfolk is a popular tourist designation, with over 5,000 campsites and 3,300 boat slips, in addition to provincial parks, conservation areas, and many kilometers of Lake Erie waterfront.
• The largest urban centre in Norfolk is Simcoe, with a population of roughly 15,500. This is followed by Port Dover, Delhi, Waterford, Port Rowan, and Courtland.