BC farm income plummets

The final numbers are in, and they’re worse than forecast.

BC’s agriculture sector posted a net loss totalling $263.7 million last year, the biggest ever, trumping last year’s loss of $194 million and the previous record loss of $252 million reported in 2008.

While the total loss includes paper losses such as depreciation, even net cash income was at its lowest in a decade, totalling $383.6 million on record farmgate receipts of $4.9 million.

But the incoming money didn’t go as far as it once did, with net cash income working out to less than 8% of revenues, the lowest since 2008.

“It’s no surprise that net farm incomes have unfortunately declined in British Columbia,” said Danielle Synotte, executive director of the BC Agriculture Council. “Even as BC farmers and ranchers continue to excel in the quantity and quality of what they produce, the agriculture sector has faced successive years of unprecedented increases to input prices.”

While government has limited control over macroeconomic forces, Synotte says the province and industry need to work together to identify actions that can “meaningfully alleviate” the financial pressures facing the sector and improve net farm incomes.

However, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada forecast a grim outlook for BC producers this year.

While anticipating a 2% increase in farmgate sales to $4.8 billion (already achieved last year), it expects net cash income will drop 12% due to a 24% decline in program payments.

While lower program payments reflect fewer farmers tapping business risk management programs, downward pressure on revenues in past years due to extreme weather can also lower payouts.

Nevertheless, the outlook for total net income had Statscan seeing red.

According to projections, BC’s farm sector is set to lose $304.9 million this year.