Statistics Canada has released a blizzard of farm income and expense statistics for 2022, 2023 and the first part of this year.
In both 2022 and 2023, Alberta had higher farm cash receipts than Saskatchewan. However, Saskatchewan led all the provinces by a wide margin when it comes to net farm income. Realized net income takes depreciation expenses into account. Total net income also accounts for value of inventory change.
Looking at total net income for 2022, Saskatchewan was at $9.5 billion, Alberta was a distant second at $6.1 billion and third place went to Manitoba at $3 billion. Total net income was down substantially in 2023, due largely to grain prices coming down, but Saskatchewan still led the nation at $5.5 billion, followed by Alberta at $2.7. Ontario claimed third place at $2.3 billion, edging out Manitoba where $1.9 billion in total net income was recorded.
As for expenses, fertilizer prices and therefore costs were lower in 2023. Fuel costs were also down a bit. However, this was offset by a sharp rise in interest costs on farm debt.
For the first three months of 2024, farm cash receipts are down substantially, particularly in Saskatchewan as compared to the first three months of last year.