Total income of farm families

For the second consecutive year, the average total income of farm families recorded its largest gain in 10 years, according to data from personal income tax returns for 2001.

Farm families saw a strong 9.7% increase in average total income to reach $72,674. The gain was the result of a 14.8% increase in average net farm-operating income (before depreciation) and a 7.8% rise in average off-farm income. Net farm-operating income increased for the second straight year, rebounding from annual declines during the late 1990s.

Net farm-operating income was buoyed by higher program payments and insurance proceeds, which resulted from poor growing conditions and increased payments from various income disaster programs.

Net farm-operating income was also supported by gains in livestock and product revenues, as cattle and hog markets remained strong, and by a jump in net cash advances (including any Canadian Wheat Board payments reported on statement). The rise in average off-farm income was again largely driven by a surge in labour income.

Families specializing in potato farming enjoyed a robust 20.8% growth in average total income in 2001. This put their average total income at almost $88,000, well above the average total income of all farm families. The increase was largely the result of a 35.8% surge in average net farm-operating income. The jump in average net farm-operating income was largely explained by higher revenues from program payments and insurance proceeds and higher revenues from potato sales in the wake of increased marketings and prices.

Families running poultry and egg farms saw the next largest percentage gain (+16.8%) in average total income. Their average total income of $92,991 was the highest for the fifth year in a row.

Families specializing in oilseed and grain farming, and in greenhouse, nursery and floriculture production also outperformed the national growth of 9.7%.

Only families operating low-income farms made less money in 2001. Owing to a decline in their average net farm-operating income, these families saw their average total income fall to $15,124, down 8.2% from 2000. In this past decade, it was the first time that these families had to rely totally on non-farming activities as their source of income.

In 2001, families operating very large business-focussed farms with revenues of $500,000 and over recorded the largest increase, with average total income of $133,068, up 11.0%. The only others to exceed the national growth of 9.7% were families operating large- and medium-sized business-focussed farms. Families in both groups registered an average growth of 10.7%.

Off-farm income of all farm families accounted for 72.2% of total income in 2001, down from 73.5% the year before. This income includes employment, investment and pension income, government social transfers, child tax payments and the like.

The biggest decline in this proportion occurred for families operating small business-focussed farms. Their share of off-farm income fell from 90.5% to 87.1%, more than three percentage points.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3447

The publication Farm and Off-Farm Income Statistics, 2001 (21-019-XIE, free) is available online. From the Our products and services pages, under Browse our Internet publications, choose Free, then Agriculture.

For custom data requests, contact Client Services (1-800-465-1991; agriculture@statcan.gc.ca). For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Lina Di Piétro (613-951-3171; fax: 613-951-3868; lina.dipietro@statcan.gc.ca), or Sylvana Beaulieu (613-951-5268; sylvana.beaulieu@statcan.gc.ca), Agriculture Division.