Manitoba farmers reap benefits of record year

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This article was published 29/05/2018 (2780 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba farmers enjoyed a record-smashing year in 2017, reaping $6.5 billion in cash receipts, according to the Statistics Canada annual farm income report.

The new record is half a billion dollars greater than previous highs in 2016 and 2014. Manitoba didn’t even crack the $5-billion mark in receipts until 2012. The rise was mostly due to fantastic crops but also some recovery by the hog sector.

“We grew a whopper of a crop last year, especially wheat crops. There were unheard-of yields in many parts of the province,” said Dan Mazier, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, who farms north of Brandon.

That’s a boost for the entire province. “It means a better bottom line not only for the farmgate but also for the economy of Manitoba,” Mazier said.

Manitoba farmers kicked other provinces to the curb with its nine per cent increase in cash receipts. Next highest was Alberta at 4.5 per cent.

The country as a whole saw a 1.8 per cent increase in farm cash receipts, the seventh straight rise. Nova Scotia saw the largest decrease at 5.7 per cent, but New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan also fell.

A record soybean crop in Manitoba and record yields in wheat and canola are the prime reasons for the great year, Statistics Canada analyst Gail-Ann Breese said.

Crop receipts increased 21.6 per cent for wheat and 32.5 per cent for soybeans in Manitoba. Soybean production was up 30 per cent. Crop receipts doubled those from the livestock sector, compared to 2001 when the receipts from each sector were almost equal.

However, livestock receipts in Manitoba also showed some recovery, climbing 4.9 per cent. Hog receipts were the main factor, rising eight per cent thanks to an increase in prices and the number of hogs marketed. Dairy receipts climbed 10.9 per cent but make up a smaller portion of the overall livestock picture.

“It’s good to see some improvement in the hog industry. It’s had lots of challenge with markets and disease,” Mazier said.

University of Manitoba farm economist Derek Brewin cautioned that 2017 cash receipts don’t just contain 2017 crop. “Farm income numbers are always a little dicey because they are greatly affected by inventories,” he said. Manitoba farmers had good inventories to sell heading into 2017, and the crop grown in 2017 will likewise be sold this year, which should bode well for 2018, he said.

“I think the concern is transportation” as far as farmers being able to move all the grain they want he said. The rail network was plugged earlier this year, but not as badly as in the 2013-14 crop year.

The bumper year “means everything from being able to pay your bills to a chance to renew if an operation’s thinking about expanding,” Mazier said. “Everybody from the fertilizer manufacturer to the local tire shops, to the people who sell machine parts, to tractor sales, benefits.”

It also gives lenders the confidence to invest money when an industry is growing, Mazier said.

While Manitoba had an excellent year — crop receipts alone were up 13 per cent, after a 13 per cent increase the previous year — Saskatchewan crop receipts numbers have been flat the past two years. Last year, parts of southern Saskatchewan suffered extreme drought.

“We were so much more blessed with timely rains and moisture in our soils to grow the kind of crop we did,” Mazier said.

As for 2018, crops are holding so far, despite an unusually dry spring and little soil moisture heading into this year.

Mazier said crops are doing all right on the west side of the province, but it’s a slightly different story in the Red River Valley.

“In January and February, there was lots of bare ground in the Red River Valley, whereas you go west and we had snow cover all winter,” he said.

The Red River Valley is more vulnerable as a result.

“They got half an inch of rain last week and we got not even a tenth of an inch. It was enough for us. But farmers (in the Red River Valley) say their water is already all gone. It’s because they dried out so much more in winter.”

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca