Media Clipping — Saturday August.16th, 2008, The New Brunswick Telegraph Journal

Net farm income dropped in N.B.

Net farm income dropped precipitously in New Brunswick from 2006 to 2007, according to Statistics Canada.

Farmers in this province made a net $41,291,000 in 2006, but lost a net $24,746,000 last year, the federal agency reports in its Net Farm Income Agriculture Economic Statistics document.

These numbers reflect the trend in the other Maritime Provinces, as reported Friday by GPI Atlantic in a study on the economic viability of farms in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

Net farm income dropped by an average of 91 per cent in Nova Scotia, 92 per cent on the Island, since 1971, and in 2007 reached the lowest levels ever recorded in both provinces, the study states.

Nova Scotia farms lost money in four of the last six years, Prince Edward Island farms in five of the last seven years.

Across Canada farmers made a net $368,900,000 last year, a turn around from losing a net $67,771,000 in 2006. Farmers in all four Atlantic Provinces, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia all lost money, but farmers in Quebec, at $509,650,000, Manitoba at $165,788,000 and Saskatchewan at $316,272,000 made enough to swing the national numbers.

Rising grain and oilseed prices more than offset large increases in operating costs and lower receipts for hog and cattle producers, Statistics Canada said.

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