The explosion in grain and oilseed prices sent farm cash receipts soaring during the first nine months of the year to a record $29.6 billion, Statistics Canada reported Nov. 26.
But representatives of the livestock sector that buys that high-priced grain were on Parliament Hill the same day warning MPs that feed costs threaten to put many out of business.
Statistics Canada analysts noted that point when it indicated that cash receipts reflect just half the picture. The first estimates of costs and farm income for 2007 will not come until May 26, 2008.
Read Also
Gene editing digs deeper space in Canadian plant breeding
More Canadian research into crop variety development is incorporating gene editing, and one researcher notes that Canada’s regulatory approach to gene editing will help drive innovation
The federal agency said rising costs could be an issue for grain and oilseed farmers as well as the livestock sector.
“While prices for grain and oilseed producers rose substantially in 2007 from low levels, inputs also increased,” it said.
“For example, the industrial product price index indicated that Canadian fertilizer prices rose 20 percent during the first nine months of 2007 compared with the same period last year.”
And feed barley prices were up more than 73 percent.
A 15 percent increase in the value of the Canadian dollar against the American dollar during the first nine months of the year will also eat into the prices commodity exporters receive.
The agency reported that crop receipts were up 25.6 percent during the nine- month period while livestock receipts increased just 4.4 percent. Still, livestock receipts were $1 billion higher than grain and oilseed receipts.
Meanwhile, farm support programs paid out far less to the end of September. Program payments fell 15.4 percent to $2.95 billion, half a billion dollars less than during the same period last year.
Statistics Canada also published numbers on 2006’s dismal farm income.
Last year, realized net farm income sank 50 percent to a level comparable to 2003, the year of BSE.
The federal agency reported that after production costs were paid and depreciation accounted for in a farm sector that produced almost $37 billion worth of commodities, Canadian farmers had realized net farm income last year of $844 million.
If the decline in the value of farm product inventory is considered, the total farm sector had a net loss of $6 million.
Using the realized net income calculation that is considered by most economists to best reflect the economic situation of an industry, four provinces – British Columbia, Alberta, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island – had farm economies that lost money last year.
Quebec’s $442 million in realized net farm income represented more than 52 percent of the national total.
