Agribusiness Takes all: 90 years of Canadian net farm income

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I think what you meant to say was you'd take a small piece of a bigger pie rather than a big piece of a small pie. Still a sign of failure though if despite farms getting bigger, getting "more efficient", more productive they can only retain a declining share of gross farm income as net. It's a sign that the system isn't working in farmers favour which ties in with what most people on this site share on a daily basis - getting squeezed from both sides with higher input costs and grain prices what they were decades ago in some cases.
How big is the piece of pie farmers are getting today compared to the rest of society? Compared to the earliest dates on this graph farmers have slipped catastrophically compared to people in most other sectors of employment. Sure most are asset millionaires but that doesn't put bread on the table. Seems plenty on here go on a lot on holidays and drive nice vehicles but so does the lowly secretary working a town job, never mind the dentists, lawyers and doctors. Look at the teachers back then who were housed by local farm families in rotation if I understand correctly. How many quarters does a farmer have to work today to net what a single young teacher earns?
The area of AB we were in, close to yours AF5, there were virtually no families full time in agriculture other than the Hutterites. For miles around in every direction nearly every farm family had one partner working off farm - sometimes both. Combine that with debt levels at a record high and it really doesn't paint a rosy picture.

No, I meant a big piece of a big pie. Look at the Blue, inflation adjusted gross farm income is far higher than any time in history. Do you really expect each remaining farmer who now grows as much production as 100 farmers did a century ago, to make as much income as those 100 farmers combined? It is called economies of scale. The fact that total net income is relatively stable over such a long period of time while the number of farmers has declined, tells us that we each get more net income every time someone else leaves the industry. If you can find an industry that has had improvements in efficiency over that same time period, with profit margins remaining the same, I'd like to join it.

And yes, people in my area are more than willing to work very hard off the farm for the privilege of farming, for most, it is to subsidize the purchase of shiny equipment that wouldn't be justified on a farm 10 times bigger. That is not a reflection of the state of agricultural profitability, but a reflection of a healthy job market and people who can afford to do what they enjoy in their off work hours. In most cases, there is no economic argument to be had for subsidizing the farm, except that they want to do it.

[SASKFARMER3]

Yep they only took a little from my Grand Father on his section.

Then Dad got it a little more but still made a go on his 12 quarters.

Now it starts to move wider and WE get it up the Ass farming half the country.

Yea its working for one group every one who feeds on farmers.

[farming101]

They never took nothing when we summerfallowed !

Nothin to give! Blew it all on diesel and cultivator shovels!

[helmsdale]

They never took nothing when we summerfallowed !

#summerfallowerall !!

Except for the fuel merchant and the hardware store where you bought shovels... but then some of you are like my father in law, where the black paint barely wears off the steel.

[furrowtickler]

agri business

What a game

Canola seed, fertilizer, and spraying

Takes most of the Grain !

After paying bills ......

[Crestliner]

This is an interesting graph. Even though it has been derived from an NFU hack...I think it has validity. My grandfather farmed 4 1/4’s didn’t have to borrow, had nice equipment, comfortable house and a new pickup every year and passed with money in the Bank....they had tough times coming through the 1930’s...but something happened along the way that allowed them to be prosperous.

[MBgrower]

This is an interesting graph. Even though it has been derived from an NFU hack...I think it has validity. My grandfather farmed 4 1/4’s didn’t have to borrow, had nice equipment, comfortable house and a new pickup every year and passed with money in the Bank....they had tough times coming through the 1930’s...but something happened along the way that allowed them to be prosperous.

the problem is we keep feeding the moster

[farmaholic]

Isn't it ironic that this tread gets resurrected just when the first of the 2018 seeding bills are arriving.

What happens if you dont have a signed credit application and you don't pay your bills? Lol

[farmaholic]

I bet most farmers didn't realize they had so many dependents.

Look around yourself sometime...its actually staggering. (Wife and kids don't count).

[FarmJunkie]

We do it to ourselves. Cheap money makes u a dependent on the system. Loans gotta be repaid so the crops gotta be sowed. If we all took one year off just imagine the long faces on all the parasites of the system.