Farm Product Price Index

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In December, prices farmers received for their commodities rose 7.9% from December 2009, as both the livestock and animal products index and the crops index increased.

The prices producers received for livestock and animal products rose 10.0% in December compared with December 2009, as increases were recorded in all livestock commodities except poultry. Cattle and calves and hogs, the two largest contributors to the livestock index, have posted year-over-year increases in the last seven and nine months respectively.

Over the last few years, livestock producers have been affected by the US Country of Origin Labeling legislation, lower demand driven by the economic situation and higher feed grain costs. By the end of 2010, the number of cattle on Canadian farms had declined to their lowest level since January 1995, while hog inventories (+0.6%) recorded their first increase on a year-over-year basis since April 1, 2006.

The prices producers received for crops in December were 5.7% higher compared with the same month a year earlier, as increases in oilseeds, fruit and grains offset declines in potatoes, specialty crops and vegetables.

In December, the total crops index rose 3.3% over November, as grains, oilseed, specialty crops and fruit posted increases. The overall livestock and animal products index (+1.6%) was also up from November, as all components except cattle and calves increased.

Note: The growth rate of the total Farm Product Price Index (FPPI) is derived from a weighted average of the component indices using a different set of weights in consecutive months; it is not a weighted average of the growth rates of its crop and livestock components. Given this, the growth rate of the composite FPPI can lie outside the growth rate of these components.

Available on CANSIM: tables 002-0021 and 002-0022.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5040.

The December 2010 issue of Farm Product Price Index, Vol. 10, no. 12 (21-007-X, free), is now available from the Key resource module of our website under Publications.

For more information, or to order data, call Client Services (toll-free 1-800-465-1991). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Gail-Ann Breese (204-983-3445; fax: 204-983-7543; gailann.breese@statcan.gc.ca), Agriculture Division.