Farm Sector Equity Revised Slightly Higher, But Still Slowing

Canadian farm sector equity increased slightly more than previously expected in 2024 but still marked the first slowdown in five years. 

A Statistics Canada report Thursday pegged the value of national farm sector equity as of Dec. 31, 2024 at $833.4 billion, up $39.3 billion or 5% from a year earlier. That compares to the $38.9 billion or 4.9% gain that StatsCan initially reported back in June but is still down from the 7.8% advance recorded in 2023. 

While equity continued to rise in every province, the pace of growth cooled as farm debt expanded much faster than asset values. Total farm sector liabilities climbed 14.5% in 2024, compared with a 6.4% increase in total assets, marking the first time in five years that leverage meaningfully outpaced balance-sheet growth. Saskatchewan and Alberta accounted for more than two-thirds of the national increase in equity, with gains of 10% and 5.7% respectively. Manitoba posted a 4.5% increase, while Ontario saw a more modest rise of 1.3%.