Farm Cash Receipts Rebound in January-September Period

After declining for the first time in 14 years in 2024, Canadian farm cash receipts could be set to rebound this year – mainly due to richer cattle returns. 

According to a Statistics Canada farm income report Wednesday, total national farm cash receipts through the first three quarters of 2025 (January-September) amounted to $73.7 billion, up $2.1 billion or almost 3% from the same period a year earlier. 

A 2024 farm income report, also released today, pegged last year’s total farm cash receipts at $98.1 billion, down $1.4 billion on the year and first year-over-year fall since 2010. Farm cash receipts include crop and livestock returns, as well as government program payments. 

Livestock receipts for the Jan-Sept period were reported by StatsCan at $32.86 billion, up $3.8 billion or almost 13% from a year earlier. On the other hand, crop receipts through the first three quarters of 2025 were pegged at $37.55 billion, down 2.6% on the year. Program payments were also lower, falling about $659 million from the first three quarters of 2024. 

Jan-Sept cattle receipts climbed $2.3 billion from last year, while hog receipts were up $770.6 billion. Together, cattle and hog returns accounted for roughly 80% of the rise in livestock receipts.  

Cattle receipts were up due to higher prices (+22.6%), despite lower marketings (-1.8%) from a decline in both the number of cattle slaughtered and international exports. The increase in hog receipts was attributed to a 13.7% rise in prices and a 2.4% increase in marketings as strong international demand for pork products contributed to increased slaughter numbers.