Record Quarter for Canadian Farmers

OTTAWA - May 25/05 - SNS -- Canadian farmers received a record amount of cash for the January to March quarter, as growth in revenues for cattle and hogs and record program payments offset a decline in crop receipts.

Statistics Canada said total receipts from crops, livestock and payments rose 3.4% to a record $9.4 billion, about $310 million higher from the first quarter of 2004. Receipts were 6.5% higher than the first-quarter average for the previous five-year period between 2000 and 2004.

Livestock farmers saw their revenues rebound 6.8% from a low in 2004 to $4.5 billion. This increase was mainly due to gains in receipts for slaughter cattle and hogs.

In contrast, receipts from crop sales fell 10.3% to $3.3 billion, about a $380-million decline. Producers of many major grains and oilseeds saw their revenues slashed from the same period in the previous year.

Farmers received $1.6 billion from programs in the first three months of 2005, up one-third from the same period a year earlier. This was more than $690 million over the previous five-year average. Most of this increase may be attributed to larger payments delivered through the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program.

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