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Farm cash receipts, January to September 2020

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Released: 2020-11-25

Farm cash receipts (quarterly)

$51.6 billion

January to September  2020

8.4% increase

(year-over-year change)

Farm cash receipts increase during the first three quarters of 2020

Farm cash receipts for Canadian farmers totalled $51.6 billion over the first three quarters of 2020, up 8.4% (or up $4.0 billion) from the same period in 2019, as a result of higher marketings in most grains and oilseeds, especially canola.

Chart 1  Chart 1: Total crops, livestock and direct payments as a proportion of total farm cash receipts, January to September, Canada, 2010 to 2020
Total crops, livestock and direct payments as a proportion of total farm cash receipts, January to September, Canada, 2010 to 2020

Saskatchewan (+$2.2 billion) accounted for over half of the increase, while Ontario (+$731.1 million), Alberta (+$465.0 million) and Quebec (+$387.9 million) also reported large gains in receipts. Conversely, receipts were down in two provinces: Nova Scotia (-$18.7 million) and Newfoundland and Labrador (-$11.5 million).

Crop receipts rose 14.8% to $30.0 billion and direct payments were up 30.1% to $2.4 billion, while livestock receipts decreased 2.2% to $19.1 billion.

Chart 2  Chart 2: Farm cash receipts by category, by province or region, January to September 2020
Farm cash receipts by category, by province or region, January to September 2020 

Crop receipts: Marketings up for most grains and oilseeds

Crop receipts were up 14.8% to $30.0 billion during the first three quarters of 2020. Excluding cannabis, crop receipts would have risen 9.2%.

Marketings were up for most grains and oilseeds year over year, led by canola (+24.8%), oats (+23.8%), barley (+22.5%) and wheat excluding durum (+16.6%). Conversely, corn for grain marketings declined 16.1%.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has opened up space on the railways for the increased transportation of grains and oilseeds in the wake of lower rail shipments of petroleum products—the demand for which decreased during the pandemic, according to data on railway carloadings. In addition, excellent harvest conditions allowed farmers to get their crops off early, which boosted third quarter receipts. Marketings of grains and oilseeds were up by over one-third (+35.6%) year over year in August and September.

Canola receipts totalled $7.4 billion, accounting for almost two-fifths of the increase in farm cash receipts over the first three quarters of 2020. The increase was attributable to marketings (+24.8%) as prices fell slightly.

In terms of specialty crops, receipts for lentils doubled year over year to $1.4 billion during the first three quarters of 2020, on increased marketings (+58.6%) and prices (+35.9%). Receipts also rose for dry beans (+$41.8 million) and dry peas (+$172.6 million) on increased marketings and prices.

Cannabis receipts rose 112.4% year over year to $3.0 billion in the first three quarters of 2020, accounting for just over two-fifths of the increase in crop receipts.

Lower livestock receipts mostly attributable to cattle slaughter receipts

Livestock cash receipts decreased 2.2% year over year to $19.1 billion during the first three quarters of 2020 on lower cattle receipts (-$379.8 million). The majority of this decrease was in cattle slaughter receipts. COVID-19 has disrupted the livestock industry by causing delays and backlogs following outbreaks at several processing plants, which limited the capacity to process meat.

Hog receipts fell 4.0% year over year to $3.3 billion. The drop in receipts resulted from a 8.2% price decline, as marketing were up 4.5%.

Receipts for supply managed commodities increased 2.1% to $8.7 billion, representing 45.3% of livestock receipts. Higher cash receipts for milk, eggs and chickens more than offset a slight drop in turkey receipts.

Total direct payments rise by almost one-third

Total direct payments increased by 30.1% year over year to $2.4 billion during the first three quarters of 2020, with six provinces reporting higher payments. The largest increases were in Quebec (+$210.2 million) and Alberta (+$154.3 million). The Atlantic provinces all reported lower payments.

Crop insurance rose by 23.6% year over year during the first three quarters of 2020, accounting for almost half of total direct payments. The majority of the payment increase in Quebec was split between provincial stabilization (+$87.7 million) and crop insurance (+$77.6 million). The gain in Alberta was mostly attributable to higher payments of livestock (+$76.1 million) and crop (+$50.6 million) insurance.

The livestock insurance payments (in Alberta) and the Provincial Stabilization Program (in Quebec) were triggered by lower prices resulting from temporary closures and slowdowns at processing plants during the pandemic.



  Note to readers

As a result of COVID-19 and to provide Canadians with the most recent data, farm cash receipts will again be released on a quarterly basis. The next release will be at the beginning of March and will include data for January to December 2020.

Preliminary estimates of net farm income for 2020 will be available in May 2021.

All data in this release are in current dollars. Farm cash receipts measure the gross revenue of farm businesses. They include sales of crops and livestock products (except sales between farms in the same province) and program payments. Receipts are recorded when the money is paid to farmers. These do not represent their bottom line, as farmers have to pay their expenses and loans and cover depreciation.

Farm cash receipts are, for the most part, based on monthly marketings and the monthly prices of various commodities. Marketings are quantities sold, using various units of measure.

Data are extracted from administrative files and derived from other Statistics Canada surveys and/or other sources. These data are subject to revision. COVID-19 has also had some impact on normal collection operations. For certain commodities, it was not possible to collect data either in time or at all; in these cases, estimates were produced (e.g., fur, honey, maple syrup). Revisions to these estimates will be made in future releases as data become available.

For details on farm cash receipts and net farm income for 2019, see the "Farm income" release in today's Daily.

Products

The agriculture and food statistics portal, which is accessible from the Subjects module of the Statistics Canada website, provides users with a single point of access to a wide variety of information related to agriculture and food.

An overview of the impact of COVID-19 on the beef supply chain, released on November 17, 2020, is also available.

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).

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