Search
Better Farming OntarioBetter PorkBetter Farming Prairies

Better Farming Ontario Featured Articles

Better Farming Ontario magazine is published 11 times per year. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


Ontario lags in farm income

Sunday, May 24, 2009

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

Despite huge leaps in their operating expenses last year, Ontario’s farmers took home a tidy profit, according to figures released today from Statistics Canada.

But with the country’s highest building depreciation expenses (the amount of money farmers must set aside to replace older buildings at current market prices) and third-highest machinery depreciation expenses for 2008, that extra cash may be needed for on-farm improvements.

And so far this year, farm cash receipts for Ontario farmers don’t appear to be as lucrative as they are elsewhere in Canada: while nationally, receipts were up 7.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same time last year, Ontario’s dropped 1.1 per cent.

StatsCan attributes a 14.1 per cent increase in 2008 market receipts for Canadian farmers to strong prices for grains and oilseeds. The prices peaked in mid-2008 and have since fallen off. In the livestock sector there were increases in market receipts for cattle (2.4 per cent) and supply-managed commodities (5.7 per cent). Hog revenues dropped 2.9 per cent. In total, Canada’s farmers brought home $41.8 billion in market receipts.

Total net income for Ontario’s farmers jumped to $262 million in 2008 from -$220 million in 2007; federally, it jumped to $6.1 billion from $1 billion in the same time period.

Stephen Boyd, head of the agriculture division farm expenses unit at Statistics Canada, says Ontario had the highest operating expense level compared to other provinces in both 2007 and 2008 as well as the highest revenues. “This is because Ont. is the province with the largest number of farms,” he writes in an email. In 2006, Ontario had 57,211 farms; Alberta had the next highest number at 49,431. BF
 
 

Current Issue

May 2025

Better Farming Magazine

Farms.com Breaking News

How will Carney work with Farmers?

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Prime Minister Carney has a mandate to lead the country, but the country is quite divided, and much of the agriculture industry feels alienated. Prime Minister Mark Carney and Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre have both pledged cooperation on key issues like U.S. tariffs. As the new... Read this article online

Sheep farmers win Ontario’s Outstanding Young Farmers

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Sheep farmers and wool producers from Wallenstein, Ont. are Ontario’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2025. “It’s great to be recognized by your peers in the industry with an award like that,” Ryan Schill told Farms.com. “When we started the sheep farm, there were people questioning us... Read this article online

BF logo

It's farming. And it's better.

 

a Farms.com Company

Subscriptions

Subscriber inquiries, change of address, or USA and international orders, please email: subscriptions@betterfarming.com or call 888-248-4893 x 281.


Article Ideas & Media Releases

Have a story idea or media release? If you want coverage of an ag issue, trend, or company news, please email us.

Follow us on Social Media

 

Sign up to a Farms.com Newsletter

 

DisclaimerPrivacy Policy2025 ©AgMedia Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Back To Top