Alberta farmers on pace for a record money-making year
CBC News
Posted: Dec 29, 2012 11:23 AM MT
Last Updated: Dec 29, 2012 12:23 PM MT
Farm cash receipts for the three quarters of 2012 are up 15 per cent from 2011. (Seth Perlman/Associated Press file photo)
Alberta farmers are bringing in more money than ever, according to new numbers from Statistics Canada.
Farm cash receipts — which represents raw income before expenses — for the first nine months of 2012 totalled $8.8 billion dollars.
It's an increase of 15 per cent from last year.
Todd Hirsch from ATB Financial says it could be a new record.
"There are always going to be offsets, with those expenses, and operating costs on farming is high and some of those have been rising and that squeezes the margins but nonetheless it is the cash receipts that set all the revenues for the farmers and those are on track to be very good this year," he said.
Hirsch says once all the expenses are paid, actual profits may not set records but should still be pretty good.
"About an average crop year, but very, very good prices in grains and oilseeds and most livestock," he said.
Not all farmers in the same boat
Lynn Jacobson, the president of the Wildrose Agriculture Producers Association, says even the farmers who are doing well will pay for it.
"While we bring in money — and we might bring in a record amount — there will be a record amount spent on crop inputs and machinery too," said Jacobson.
He says a couple of industries that struggled this year are pork and smaller cattle feedlots.
"There's pockets within the industry or pockets within the areas that they didn't get the yields, they had some disease problems or hail or whatever," said Jacobson.
"So to make a blanket statement that everybody is doing very well ... across the board, I can't go there. I can't say that. It just doesn't happen."
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