Canadian farm debt continued to increase in 2025, although at a slower pace.
A Statistics Canada farm income report released earlier this week pegged total nationwide farm debt at the end of last year at $179.1 billion. That is still a 7.5% increase from the previous year but well down from the 14.1% increase in debt that farmers took on in 2024 compared to 2023.
Meanwhile, StatsCan data shows farm interest expenses reached $9.19 billion in 2025, up $90.99 million from $9.1 billion in 2024, representing a modest year-over-year increase of about 1%. The increase in 2025 interest expenses followed a much steeper jump in 2024, when annual farm interest expenses surged by roughly $2.02 billion to $9.1 billion — an increase of 28.6%.
That sharp rise in 2024 interest expenses reflected the impact of higher interest rates across the economy, which significantly increased borrowing costs for producers at a time when many farms were already facing elevated expenses for inputs, machinery, and land.
The Bank of Canada’s key overnight lending rate peaked at 5% in 2023, a level it remained at until June 2024, when the Bank began to steadily reduce its policy rate amid cooling inflation and weakening economic growth, among other factors. Through 2025, the Bank of Canada eased its policy rate from 3.25% to 2.25%.
Ontario farmers were most indebted at the end of 2025, owing a collective $46 billion, an increase of 7.4% from a year earlier. Alberta producers owed $41.16 billion, up about 10% from 2024, while Saskatchewan farm debt increased 5% to $25.64 billion. Manitoba farm debt, at $15.03 billion, increased 8.4% from 2024.
The bulk of total Canadian farm debt in 2025 was held by chartered banks, followed by federal government agencies and credit unions.
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