Farm income fell $300 million during the first half of 2009 compared to last year, driven down by lower government payments and a crash in wheat receipts, says Statistics Canada.
However, Heather Miller of the federal statistics agency said Aug. 24 the report probably underestimates wheat cash receipts because Canadian Wheat Board payments were not up to date when the report was written.
It showed durum wheat receipts down almost $400 million to $497 million and overall wheat receipts almost $650 million lower than last year.
“But the information from the wheat board about payments was not complete so they are expected to go up when we do later reports,” she said in an interview.
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The federal agency’s Aug. 24 farm cash receipts report also included the surprising news that cash receipts in the hog industry actually increased 10.2 percent compared to last year, despite repeated claims that the hog industry is going through its worst financial crisis in six decades.
The government recently announced a program of money for herd reduction and long-term loans to try to help a smaller industry survive into the future.
Miller said the news that hog industry receipts increased by $150 million to $1.6 billion in the first two quarters is somewhat misleading.
“It’s true the numbers are up but it still is the second worst result in a decade,” she said. “It is only because of the low level of receipts we are comparing to.”
The Statistics Canada analyst said prices recorded by the hog industry were higher in the first half of the year because the industry was exporting more higher-priced weanlings to the U.S.
However, she said that while the agency does not predict the future, the next two quarters likely will show worse results.
“With everything in the news and the impact of COOL (country-of-origin labelling), we expect it (cash receipts) will go down in the third quarter,” said Miller.
Soybeans, potatoes, special crops and canola recorded strong receipt increases during the first half of the year. Increased potato receipts gave Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick the strongest provincial half-year results.
Meanwhile, the end of Net Income Stabilization Account payments and a sharp decrease in federal income disaster assistance program payments (including the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program) meant total program payments fell more than $700 million compared to last year. They totalled less than $1.5 billion.
Crop insurance payments were up 24 percent to the end of June and with prairie crops affected this year by both drought and excess moisture, provincial crop insurance payments are expected to soar in future Statistics Canada farm cash receipt reports.
