Realized Net Farm Income Down in 2022 as Expenses Rise

After two years of big gains, realized net farm income for Canadian farmers fell in 2022, undermined by rising expenses. 

A Statistics Canada farm income report Thursday pegged national realized net farm income for this past year at $12.5 billion, down 9.5% from a year earlier. The decline follows a nearly 51% increase in 2021 and a 79.1% jump in 2020. (Realized net income is the difference between a farmer's cash receipts and operating expenses, minus depreciation, plus income in kind). 

Although total farm cash receipts were up 14.8% to $95 billion in 2022, that increase was more than offset by 21.2% increase in expenses to $72.5 billion, as farmers faced higher costs for key agricultural inputs, including fertilizer, feed and fuel. It marked the largest year-over-year increase in farm expenses since a 22% jump in 1974 and easily topped the previous year’s increase of 9.6%.