Ontario’s drop from largest provincial agricultural economy to third spot is likely a blip, says an Ontario farm leader.
Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Mark Wales says 2011 and 2012 farm financial reports from Ottawa reflect record grain and oilseed prices that boost prairie returns, while 2012 market returns reflect drought-reduced Ontario results.
“I don’t think this is a true reflection of Ontario’s agri-food strength,” he said.
According to farm financial data released by Statistics Canada, the Ontario farm economy recorded a realized net income (receipts minus expenses and depreciation) of $730 million in 2011, far behind Saskatchewan’s $2.8 billion and Quebec’s $1.2 billion.
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Farm cash receipts for the first nine months of 2012 again show Ontario in third place at $8 billion, behind Alberta’s $8.7 billion and Saskatchewan’s $8.6 billion.
“I would bet that 2011 is probably an anomaly, but it really depends on where grain prices stay in the long run,” he said. “You do have record canola prices, strong pulses and grain, and there was some increases in meat prices. These have particular impact on the Prairies. It bodes well for all provinces in the long run if we could just get some stability in production. Weather has been erratic.”
This year’s drought cut hundreds of millions of dollars worth of production from livestock and grain producers in eastern Ontario and the Grey-Bruce cattle heartland, as well as fruit production in southwestern Ontario and grain production in many parts of the province.
“This year will see the almost total collapse of the apple industry, partially the tender fruit sector, the drought dramatically affects people across the province and low hog prices are hitting Ontario hog producers hard although it is hitting western hog producers as well,” he said. “This will not be a good year.”
The federal and provincial governments are poised to hear details within weeks about an AgriRecovery payment to compensate for some of the damage.
