From Statistics Canada’s The Daily mobile
Farm cash receipts for Canadian farmers totalled $41.8 billion between January and September 2014, up 2.6% from the same period in 2013. The increase was due to gains in the second (+12.4%) and third (+7.7%) quarters of 2014, following a 9.2% decline in the first quarter of the year.
Farm cash receipts, which include crop and livestock revenues as well as program payments, increased in six provinces, with gains ranging from 1.3% in Ontario to 5.6% in Manitoba. Farm cash receipts were down in Nova Scotia (-14.3%), Newfoundland and Labrador (-11.4%), Prince Edward Island (-4.5%) and New Brunswick (-1.6%).
Market receipts from the sale of crops and livestock rose 4.3% compared with the first three quarters of 2013 to $40.4 billion. A 15.5% rise in livestock receipts more than offset a 3.5% decline in crop receipts. This was the first decline in crop receipts for the January-to-September period since 2010.
Livestock receipts grew by $2.5 billion during the first three quarters of 2014 to $18.4 billion, led by gains in the cattle and calf sector. Cattle and calf receipts rose by $1.6 billion (+31.8%), largely because of price increases. Hog receipts also contributed to the gain, rising $926 million to $4.0 billion.
Hog and cattle and calf prices continued to be at record or near-record levels, primarily a result of low North American inventories. Average cattle and calf prices for the first nine months of 2014 were up 30.5% compared with the same period in 2013, while average hog prices rose 29.2%. Lower inventories and the resulting price increases were a result of several factors, including successive years of drought in the United States in 2011 and 2012 and the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus outbreak.
International exports of cattle were stable for the first three quarters of 2014 compared with the same period a year earlier, while international exports of calves were at their highest level since at least 1983, despite the increased costs to comply with the latest version of the United States mandatory country of origin labelling legislation.
Dairy receipts rose 3.3% to $4.5 billion, as prices increased 4.1%, while both chicken and egg receipts were down as a result of lower prices. Total farm cash receipts for the supply-managed sectors (dairy, poultry and eggs) were $7.3 billion for January to September, 0.7% above the same period in 2013.
Livestock receipts increased in every province except the Atlantic provinces, with gains ranging from 4.8% in British Columbia to 32.6% in Saskatchewan. Lower fur prices (-59.3%) were the primary reason behind declining livestock receipts in all four Atlantic provinces.
Lower prices were the driving factor behind the $799 million decrease in crop receipts during the January-to-September period. Crop prices came under pressure last year following the record breaking 2013 Canadian harvest and recovering world production of many of the major grains and oilseeds, and have not recovered to the levels seen in the first half of 2013.
Wheat (excluding durum) receipts declined 8.6% to $3.7 billion from January to September. This was $351 million lower than in the same period in 2013. A 19.6% increase in marketings was not enough to offset a 23.6% decrease in average prices. Corn (-17.5%) and barley (-24.3%) receipts were the next two top contributors to the decline in crop receipts.
Conversely, canola receipts increased $248 million to $5.5 billion, despite a 24.4% drop in prices. While canola marketings were down slightly during the first quarter of 2014, leaving March 31 canola farm stocks over double the previous year’s levels, producers delivered record quantities during the second and third quarters. Total marketings for April to September were up 64.8% from the same period a year earlier.
Program payments amounted to $1.4 billion in the first three quarters of 2014, down 30.8% from the same period in 2013. Lower crop insurance payments (-42.7%) accounted for more than half of the decline. This marked the third consecutive decline in program payments for the January-to-September period.
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