The total income of Canadian farm families increased in 2020, with grain and oilseed operations seeing a particularly healthy gain while cattle outfits experienced a decline.
A Statistics Canad report Friday showed the average total income of farm families operating a single farm in Canada was $179,724 in 2020, up 10.2% from 2019.
However, some farm types fared much better than others, with total income on grain and oilseed farms up 18.9% at $217,343. On the other hand, beef cattle ranching and farming (including feedlot) operations saw their average total income slide about 2.6% to $120,457. At $189,269, total income on hog farms was up 1.8% from 2019.
The increased income for grain and oilseed farms was largely attributable to strong export demand from China, after a reduction of tariffs, and favourable weather conditions in Western Canada in 2020, StatsCan said.