Weaker crop returns and a decrease in government program payments offset strength in the livestock sector as Canadian farm cash receipts through the first three quarters of 2024 slipped from a year earlier.
Statistics Canada reported Tuesday that January-September cash receipts – which include both crop and livestock returns, in addition to program payments – amounted to $70.6 billion, down $2.2 billion or 3% from the same period last year.
Total crop receipts were down 9.2% to $37.6 billion in the first three quarters of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023, mainly due to a decrease in prices. Government payments, meanwhile, totalled $4 billion, a drop of 1.3% from 2023. On the other hand, livestock receipts rose 6.3% to $29 billion in the January-September period, due to increases in all sectors except poultry.
The declines in receipts in the Prairies and Quebec more than offset increases in receipts in the other provinces.
Saskatchewan accounted for over two-thirds of the decrease in total national January-September farm cash receipts compared with 2023, falling $1.5 billion or 8.9% to $15.2 billion. Alberta farm cash receipts were down 1.9% to $17.1 billion, while Manitoba receipts dropped 6.9% to $7.1 billion. On the other hand, Ontario farm cash receipts for the Jan-Sept period were up 1.2% at $15.9 billion.
National farm cash receipts were down 8.7% in the first quarter of this year and were running 3.2% lower through the first six months. Farm Credit Canada is projecting full year 2024 cash receipts to be down 1.9% from a year earlier. In comparison, 2023 farm cash receipts were up 4.6% to $99.4 billion.
The fall in crop receipts in the January-September period was led by lower returns for wheat and canola, which accounted for 90% of the overall decline. At $6.1 billion, wheat (excl durum) receipts were down $1.8 billion or 23.1% versus a year earlier, while durum returns fell almost $594 million or 35.6% to $1.07 billion. Canola receipts were $1 billion lower (-9.9%) at $9.54 billion.
Corn receipts through the first three quarters of this year amounted to $1.9 billion, a drop of almost 23%, while soybean returns were 2.2% lower at $1.7 billion.
Strong domestic and international supply contributed to the fall in prices for most major crops in 2024, StatsCan said. In the first three quarters of 2024, prices were down 21.1% for wheat (excl durum), 21.1% for canola and 15.5% for durum wheat.
Potato receipts had the largest increase among all crops in the first three quarters of 2024, up 10.1% to $1.6 billion due mainly to higher prices. Potato receipts in both Manitoba (+$94.9 million) and Alberta (+$56.2 million) posted significant gains.
The gains in livestock were led by cattle, which accounted for almost two-thirds of the total overall increase for the sector.
Receipts for cattle and calves in the January-September period were reported at $11.7 billion, an increase of 11.6% on the year. Cattle prices were 13.5% higher, StatsCan said, the result of strong international demand as well as smaller herd sizes. At $4.6 billion, hog receipts were 5.2% higher. Supply-managed receipts grew 1.6% to $11.3 billion and accounted for just under 40% of total livestock receipts.
As for government payments, Quebec (-$477.6 million) accounted for the greatest part of the decrease with lower provincial stabilization program payments. This was partially offset by the rise in crop insurance payments in most of the other provinces.
