Supply management supporters say a clear sign of the success of their system is that the average age of producers is declining, defying the greying trend among Canadian farmers.
“Right now, I can tell you the average age is about 46 years old,” said Canadian Egg Marketing Agency chair Laurent Souligny while appearing on Parliament Hill in May to call for recognition of supply management in Canada’s next agriculture policy framework.
“The number of producers has stabilized.”
Added CEMA British Columbia director Fred Krahn: “I would suggest that our average age of egg producers in British Columbia has declined significantly over the last 10 or 15 years. I’m one of the old guys now.”
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According to Statistics Canada, Souligny and Krahn were exaggerating the youth movement in their industry. Average ages of egg producers are higher than they think.
However, they were correct in the general argument that egg producers are younger than most Canadian farmers.
Based on the 2006 census of agriculture, the average age of egg producers last year was 50.3 years compared to an average farmer age of 52.
And in British Columbia, despite the claim that the average age is dropping, it actually increased from 49.2 years to 52.4 years between 2001 and 2006. Still, that average was less than the average B.C. farmer age of 53.6 years.
By comparison, wheat farmers are among Canada’s oldest.
The national average age of 55.5 for wheat farmers is well above the typical farmer age. In Saskatchewan, it was higher at 56.5 years.
Last year’s Statistics Canada compilation of farmer data offered a snapshot of how supply managed sectors stack up against other sectors.
In general, it shows dairy, egg and poultry producers as younger with higher gross incomes, assets, net incomes and debt.
It is a portrait of a section of Canada’s struggling farm community that is making money, attracting or retaining younger producers, keeping more of the gross revenue as net income than most sectors and has a higher net income than most.
It is that message of profitability and stability that supply management leaders will take to Whistler, B.C., this week when federal and provincial ministers meet to discuss future agriculture policy.
The supply management leaders will be urging political leaders to recommit to the promise that no world trade deal will be signed that undermines supply management’s ability to survive.
Statistics Canada data offer supporting evidence of supply management prosperity despite high quota costs.
In 2005, the average net worth of an Alberta dairy farm – Canada’s largest – was almost $3.9 million and average net cash income was $159,000.
By comparison, the average net worth of a grain and oilseed farm in Alberta was $1.3 million with an average net cash income of $29,000.
Only hog farms came close to the gross and net income recorded by dairy farms.
Typical cattle operations in the province had net worth of $1.1 million and net cash income of $17,700.
Prairie egg producers had an average net worth of more than $2 million, almost double the grain farm average, and had an average net cash farm income of $105,000.
One of the costs of that supply management stability was higher-than average debt in 2005.
Average liabilities for prairie egg and poultry farms were $450,000 and in Saskatchewan, average liabilities for dairy farms were $2.2 million.
For the average livestock operation in Alberta, liabilities were $187,000 in 2005 compared to dairy farm liabilities of $1.1 million. Hog farm liabilities were typically more than $708,000.
For grain farms on the Prairies, typical liabilities were in the $200,000 range.
The cost of operating supply managed farms was much higher, according to Statistics Canada.
However, supply managed farms, particularly dairy, were able to keep more of their revenue as income than other farm types. In 2005, according to the census of agriculture, dairy farms spent 73 cents of every dollar of revenue on expenses while in beef, expenses gobbled up 93 cents of every $1 in revenue. It was 87 cents in field crops.
