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Farmers' gross income steady but net income down

Farm family near Brandon.

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Farm family near Brandon. (MARC GALLANT / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVE)

WINNIPEG -- Manitoba farmers' gross income held steady over the first nine months of this year despite a three per cent decline in the third quarter alone, according to new Statistics Canada figures released today.

The agency said Manitoba farmers recorded $3.6 billion in farm cash receipts for the January to September period in both 2008 and 2009.

For the third quarter alone, cash receipts dropped to $1.10 billion from $1.14 billion in 2008.

At the national level, the numbers were even less encouraging, with farm cash receipts dropping by 4.2 per cent for the first nine months and 11.8 per cent for the third quarter alone.

Farm cash receipts include income from crop and livestock sales and from government programs. They do not represent the bottom line for producers, who still have to deduct their expenses, loan costs, and depreciation to arrive at their net income.

The preliminary net income figures for 2009 won't be available until next May. However, Statistics Canada released the final net income figures for 2008 today, and they showed that Manitoba farmers' saw their net income fall by $24 million, or 7.1 per cent, to $312 million from $336 million in 2007.

That bucked the national trend which saw farmers' net income in Canada climb by $79.2 million to $3.6 billion in 2008.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

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