Inputs strike sour note on farm cash receipt rise

Manitoba farm groups were unsurprised by a recent Statistics Canada report into last year’s farm income, which flagged increased farm cash receipt and higher input costs.

After all, Keystone Agricultural Producers director Chuck Fossey noted, it’s almost the end of 2023. Farmers lived those price trends and have seen how things carried into this year.

“We haven’t heard farmers complaining very much,” he said, pointing to several factors KAP hopes to see, like relief on provincial gas taxes and the long awaited passage of Bill C-234, which would exempt fuels for barn heating and grain drying from the carbon tax.

Why it matters: Input costs have slipped from last year but farmers are concerned that lower commodity prices may create a profitability problem in 2023.

Canadian farmers brought in more money in 2022 compared to the previous year, but their expenses were also up. That translated to a 7.6 per cent drop in realized net income to $11.8 billion, according to the report.

Realized net income is the difference between cash receipts and operating expenses, minus depreciation, plus income in kind.

Crop receipts were up by 15.2 per cent in 2022, to $53.9 billion, supported by tight supplies in Western Canada after the 2021 drought and strong export demand. Livestock receipts were up by 11.9 per cent in 2022, reaching $34 billion, with gains in all sectors. However, feed costs were also up.

Total farm operating expenses (after rebates) increased by 19.9 per cent in 2022 to $73.3 billion, the largest gain since 1979. In addition to the 20.7 per cent increase in feed expenses, fertilizer costs were up by 54.4 per cent at $11.7 billion, while fuel costs were up by 52.5 per cent on the year at $4.3 billion.