By almost every measure, the latest extensive Statistics Canada farm financial survey shows the grain-dependent prairie provinces are the sad sacks of the Canadian agricultural economy.
The most striking statistic was the comparison of average net farm incomes in 1999 and 1997.
Atlantic Canada, Quebec and British Columbia recorded two-year average increases of more than 30 percent.
In Ontario, where farmers have been raising a ruckus to win more government support, net farm income dipped slightly over the two years to $21,500.
In Saskatchewan and Manitoba, it dropped like a stone.
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“Saskatchewan reported a decline in average net cash income of 34 percent to $19,378 and Manitoba dropped 20 percent to $26, 248,” said the federal agency in a report published in late December.
It said the problem in those two provinces was mainly one of low prices for grains and oilseeds and rising costs of production.
Surprisingly, Saskatchewan also trailed Manitoba, Alberta and the national average in the value of program payment cheques received.
The average Saskatchewan grains and oilseeds farmer received $6,504 last year in program payments, according to the federal survey. In Manitoba, it was $9,364 and in Quebec, $31,970.
This was also a sore point in Ontario. Largely because of a stingy provincial government, grains and oilseeds producers in that province received just $6,212, even smaller payments than in Saskatchewan.
The financial report was based on a telephone survey of farmers across the country, conducted every two years.
The results for 1999 show the depth of the problem on the Prairies.
Grains and oilseeds farmers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba claimed less in family wages than did farmers in other provinces west of Atlantic Canada. The Saskatchewan average of $4,397 compared to $8,694 in British Columbia and $9,430 in Quebec.
Net farm worth increases were lower in those two provinces than the Canadian average and most provinces.
Across the country, average net farm worth increased 13 percent during the two years, often because of land and quota value escalation. In Saskatchewan, it declined two percent when all farms were considered. Increases in British Columbia and Manitoba were a modest two percent and six percent.
Statistics Canada said the average Canada-wide per farm capital investment in 1999 was $45,566. Saskatchewan had the lowest capital investment pattern in the country – an average of $33,349 last year compared to $46,298 two years earlier when the last of the Crow buyout money was flowing.
Manitoba also had a capital investment rate below the national average. The $40,477 invested on average last year was $12,000 below levels two years earlier.
For the country, the highest average net farm worth was reported by egg farmers, $1.57 million, followed by poultry farmers at $1.36 million and dairy farmers at an average $1.28 million. Potato farmers were close behind.
Overall, losses reported on the smallest farms increased. Farms with revenues between $100,000 and $249,999 reported net cash income decreases of six percent to just over $31,000. Farms with receipts of more than $500,000 reported net cash income down four percent to an average $182,949.
