Media Clipping — Apr. 27, 2001, The Kentville Advertiser

Harder to make a living on the farm

By Brent Fox

It is much harder to make a living down on the farm these days compared to 30 years ago, according to a genuine progress index report by GPI Atlantic.

The 71-page report - "Farm Viability and Economic Capacity In Nova Scotia" - was unveiled at an April 24 news conference hold at the Sheffield Mills community hall and attended by a number of farmers and the provincial media. The study is the first part of an on-going accounting of the province’s genuine index of soils and agriculture.

GPI researcher Jennifer Scott said, "if you’re not economically viable it would be very difficult to produce food." To date, how ever, "our farmers have been very productive. They are producing more and producing better food."

Scott noted, however, that "net farm income has declined, which affects viability."

The exceptions are supply-managed commodities, those involved in direct marketing, and organic farmers.

The problem is that things cost more to produce, she explained - "the return on investment is from zero to 9.7 per cent" - and there has been a tripling of the farm debt to net income ratio. At the same time, government subsidies to agriculture are declining.

She ventured that farmers "could handle a little bit of loss of income, but we don’t know what the capacity is" for that. She noted that "apple farmers can get one-third less than the cost of production of the fruit."

Overall, "expenses are rising faster than income," she concluded. Meanwhile, "farm product prices have remained stagnant, but the costs have increased and the cost of food has increased. So there is a market dysfunction."

Scott suggested that other "businessmen would look at these figures and get out of farming very quickly."

"Every major indicator of farm vitality is in decline," but "one way to keep a viable agricultural industry in Nova Scotia is to pay farmers more for the food they produce."

Considering the debtload involved in farm technology, she indicated that "if farmers do not get an adequate return on their investment they can’t devote resources to producing high quality food and investing in soil quality." She explained further that "if farmers can’t get a good return they can’t contribute to the resources of water, land and community growth."

Currently, farmers "are seeing a real rise in farm debt" compared to overall farm receipts. This "increases risk, while farming is a risky business to begin with."

If this is not addressed, Scott warned, "we will pay for it at the food counter, and socially in rural areas."

GPI Atlantic president Ron Colman noted that the currently accepted forms of gross domestic product do not fully measure economic viability because they are not tied to actual productivity or genuine progress.

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