HUMBOLDT, Sask. – For farmers in the 1990s, thinking big might be thinking little, at least as far as land size goes, said Royal Bank Regina agriculture manager Stuart Bond.
“There’s a notion that big farms make more money, so you have to get bigger – that’s wrong,” Bond told producers at an intensive livestock operation seminar here. “Size is not efficiency.”
Bond said most Saskatchewan farms are still based on grain growing.
He said he thinks a farm has to have revenue of at least $100,000 per year to produce enough income to support a family.
While many grain growers have drastically expanded their acreage to boost revenue, Bond said acreage for growing crops is only one way to generate money.
He said intensive livestock operations, such as large hog barns, can generate a lot of money on few acres.
Producers worried about their viability should focus on revenue, not farm acreage, he said.
