The latest farm income numbers from Statistics Canada show that 2008 and 2009 were record high years for farm income in Saskatchewan. In both years, realized net income on Saskatchewan farms topped $1.6 billion, the highest levels ever. For 2009, the realized net income from Saskatchewan represents half of the realized net income for the entire country. The next highest after Saskatchewan’s $1.6 billion is Quebec at about $874 million, followed by Manitoba at $553 million. Realized net farm income in Alberta was less than $264 million, while Ontario was a paltry $13 million. Statistics Canada also provides information on the total value of farm capital in each province. This is the total value of livestock, land, buildings and machinery. For 2009, Alberta leads the nation with a total value of farm capital that exceeds $89 billion. Next is Ontario at $72 billion. Saskatchewan has more farmland than any other province, but it’s also the least expensive land in the country. As a result, Saskatchewan’s total value of farm capital comes out to $43.5 billion. Despite this lower value of farm capital, Saskatchewan has been eclipsing Alberta and Ontario on farm income levels, due largely to grain prices that have improved dramatically since the middle part of the decade. I’m Kevin Hursh.
The George Morris Centre, an agricultural think tank located at Guelph, has just released a great paper on Canada’s supply management system for the dairy industry. Authored by Al Mussell, he paper argues for a reasoned analysis of the system, rather than the polarized debate we typically hear. There are also a lot of interesting statistics that help put the dairy industry into perspective. There are nearly 13,000 dairy farms in Canada, down from almost 30,000 in 1993. In recent times, quota values in Ontario have been maintained at $25,000 per kilogram of butterfat. This roughly corresponds to the quota required for one dairy cow. Last year, cash receipts in the dairy industry were just under $5.5 billion, which is 14 per cent of total farm cash receipts. B.C. has 9.1 per cent of dairy farm cash receipts, Alberta has 8.5 per cent, Saskatchewan has just 3.0 per cent, and Manitoba has 4.2 per cent. Meanwhile, Ontario has 32.4 per cent of dairy farm cash receipts, while Quebec has a whopping 36.8 per cent. The George Morris paper correctly points out that no Canadian government is going to dismantle supply management because producers are very happy with it and the impact on consumers from higher dairy product prices is minor in the grand scheme of things. However, protection for supply management is threatened by international trade agreements. Rather than an emotional ideological debate, there needs to be a practical discussion on how the system can be improved and allowed to evolve. I’m Kevin Hursh.