Looking up | FCC survey shows 80 percent of farmers think they’ll be better off within five years
Canadian agricultural producers are optimistic about their future, with many looking to expand, according to the results of a Farm Credit Canada survey released last week.
The survey, conducted last fall, found that 80 percent of respondents expect their farm or business will be better off in five years. That’s up four percent from last year.
A similar number of producers, 77 percent, say they are better off today than five years ago, up 10 percent from 2010.
Only nine percent nationally expect their business to be worse off five years from now.
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Survey numbers dipped in 2008 and 2009 during the global recession but have risen to this year’s record high. Optimism was among the reasons cited for the crown corporation’s $1.6 billion increase in loans outstanding in 2011.
More telling is the 70 percent of producers who said they would recommend a career in primary production to a friend, said Jean-Philippe Gervais, senior agriculture economist with FCC.
“We are sort of starting slowly to change the perceptions of this industry,” he said.
“For people to talk in a positive away about it is what we need. Optimism is what we need to bring in the investment dollars, bring in the labour that we need, and so on.”
Fifty-eight percent of respondents expect to expand or diversify their operations, while 27 percent plan on making no changes and 15 percent plan to reduce the size of their operations.
The apparent goodwill is the result of low interest rates and positive receipts for crops and livestock, he said, combined with strong land values.
“It doesn’t mean that producers don’t see any challenges ahead,” said Gervais.
An increasing global demand for food, driven by new and emerging markets, has benefited farmers, but analysts at recent Crop Production Week meetings in Saskatoon were predicting lower prices for some commodities, including canola.
“If something is to happen that would cut down that food demand, because of financial crisis, because the European debt crisis is worsening or whatever, I think they realize that crop prices could come back down a little bit,” said Gervais.
Survey results were high across all provinces and industry sectors, with Saskatchewan at 82 percent and the dairy industry at 84 percent leading each category.
Pollsters talked to 4,500 producers, according to an FCC media release. The margin of error is plus or minus one percent, 19 times out of 20.
