Ontario farms earned on average $108,000 in profit after expenses in 2022

OTTAWA — The average Ontario farm earned just over $611,046 in gross operating revenues in 2022 and was left with a profit of $108,295 after expenses (including wages but before capital depreciation), according to Statistics Canada.

The average Ontario farm’s profit after capital depreciation was $51,711. Ontario had the fifth best performance among provinces ranked by profit before depreciation.

The top four were: Saskatchewan (revenue: $724,804; profit: $190,204); Prince Edward Island (revenue: $808,468; profit: $146,207); Alberta (revenue: $825,836; profit: $132,845); and New Brunswick (revenue: $693,600; profit: $136,793). When compared to Ontario, the average Quebec farm posted slightly higher revenue at $654,692 but netted a little less profit before capital depreciation at $105,142.

As a sector in 2022, Ontario’s 635 hog producers scored the highest average perfarm revenue in the province, at $2.928 million (with $311,189 profit before capital depreciation). While the average Ontario swine producer’s 2022 profit was down more than 40 % from 2021, it was still substantially better than 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Ontario’s 1,955 poultry and egg producers had the second best average farm revenue of $1.398 million (with $276,802 profit before capital depreciation).

Ontario dairy farmers were close behind with an average farm revenue of $1.128 million and an average profi t of $293,553 before capital depreciation.

By contrast, the average dairy farm in Quebec had a gross revenue of a little more than $899,000 and a profi t of $194,303 before capital depreciation. The average Ontario crop farm had gross revenue of $528,631, with $101,235 in profit before capital depreciation. That was down from 2021’s average $466,472 revenue and $102,906 profi t.

Gross revenue for the average Ontario beef farm hit $370,247 in 2022. But that yielded only $10,070 in profit before capital depreciation and an overall loss of $9,586 after capital depreciation. The average Ontario beef farm hasn’t earned a profit after capital depreciation since 2016 when beef farms recorded a profit of $2,600.