Record Farm Cash Receipts

OTTAWA - Aug 27/07 - SNS -- Gross sales revenue on Canadian farms maintained its upward trend during the second quarter of 2007, rising 10.8% above the same quarter last year and lifting market cash receipts for the first half of 2007 13.8% above last year to a record CDN$17.6 billion.

Statistics Canada says crop receipts reached a first half-year record of $8.4 billion, supported by higher grain and oilseed prices and strong grain deliveries. This total was 25.6% above the January-to-June 2006 level and 15.5% higher than the previous record set in 2004.

Receipts for livestock producers increased 4.9% to $9.3 billion in the first half of 2007 as cattle revenue increased, hog prices improved from low levels in 2006, and dairy and poultry prices rose.

At $2.2 billion, program payments declined 14.2% during the first six months of 2007, 4.5% below the five-year average (2002 to 2006), a period which saw record high payments resulting from adverse weather conditions, low grain and oilseed prices and the bovine spongiform encephalopathy situation.

In total, farm cash receipts—revenue from crops, livestock and program payments—reached $19.9 billion, a new record. This total was 9.8% above the one posted for the first half of 2006 and 11.8% above the previous five-year average for the January-to-June period.

Farm cash receipts provide a measure of gross revenue for farm businesses. They do not account for expenses such as feed costs, which will reflect the higher grain and oilseed prices present in the market over the past year or so.

Provincially, farm cash receipts rose in all provinces, except in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, where potato receipts declined from the near-record levels observed in the first half of 2006, and in British Columbia, where receipts remained flat. Increases in all other provinces ranged from 3.1% to 23.2%. The Prairie Provinces experienced double-digit increases, mainly because of higher grain prices.

Subscribers can read the full text of the article by Clicking here