Almost six in 10 farmers nationwide plan to expand or diversify their farming operations in the next five years, according to a new survey by Canada’s federal ag lender.
Farm Credit Canada on Tuesday released results from a national survey of its Vision panel, showing 27 per cent of producers plan expansion, 11 per cent plan to diversify and 20 per cent plan to both expand and diversify. Another 27 per cent plan no changes and 15 per cent plan to either downsize or quit farming, the survey said.
"Producers said their optimism is driven by their expectation of profitability over the next five years, increasing global demand for food and the fact that they have either recently, or expect to, reduce their debt over the next five years," FCC CEO Greg Stewart said in a release.
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"At the same time, they expressed caution due to factors beyond their control such as weather, unpredictable economic conditions and potential rising interest rates, which makes perfect sense."
The survey, conducted last fall, found farmers’ and agribusiness owners’ optimism to be at an "all-time high" since it began its Vision panel surveys in 2007, with 80 per cent now expecting their farm or business to be better off in five years.
Another 11 per cent expect no change and nine per cent expect their operations to be worse off, FCC said.
By comparison, the same survey finds 77 per cent believe their farm or business to be better off now compared to five years ago, while 18 per cent say they’re worse off and six per cent say they saw no change.
Producers in Saskatchewan are more likely to be optimistic about the future (82 per cent) than other producers (79 per cent). Crop and dairy producers across the country "consistently" report high levels of optimism, Regina-based FCC said.
In an online discussion, farmers said their expectations for profitability come from "a strong position of major agriculture market drivers, such as increases in farmland values, higher commodity and red meat prices and current interest rates," Jean-Philippe Gervais, FCC’s senior ag economist, said in the same release.
FCC also found 69 per cent of producers would encourage a friend or relative to pursue a career in primary production; 79 per cent said that they would recommend a career in an ag-related field.
"Rather talk to apes"
The survey also found farmers to be interested in sharing their outlook, good or bad, with others, with 91 per cent sharing their outlook for their own farm and 93 per cent sharing their view on the general state of the ag industry.
That said, the numbers showed just 60 per cent of producers are comfortable sharing their current outlook with people outside agriculture and 70 per cent with sharing their outlook on the larger ag industry with people outside the ag business.
Surveyed producers, FCC said, feel consumers "are not educated well enough on the production of their food," making it "frustrating" for farmers to have meaningful agricultural conversations with consumers.
Outside family, a Manitoba beef producer was quoted as saying, "other producers get the meat and potatoes (the general stuff), suppliers get the bread and water treatment (need to know, maybe a bit more) and outside ag — I’d rather talk to a group of apes, they’d understand me better," FCC quoted one Manitoba beef producer as saying.
That said, FCC added, producers also "want consumers to be more educated about how hard they work, what goes into producing food and that they receive a very small percentage of the consumer cost of the end product."
Furthermore, FCC said, "producers admit that at times it can be easier to complain about what is going poorly, rather than sharing what is going well. However, they also tell us that when things are going well they do not want to brag or appear boastful."
"With other producers it seems misery loves company when things aren’t going so good, so that becomes a little too easy of a trap to fall into," a Saskatchewan crop producer told FCC.
Last fall’s Vision panel survey saw invitations sent to 9,329 active FCC Vision members, of which 4,551 completed the survey. Its margin of error is plus or minus 1.4 per cent, 19 times out of 20 on a sample this size.
The latest survey, FCC said, "retired" some questions from previous years, such as those dealing with the main challenges and opportunities in agriculture, and with farmers’ financing intentions and spending behaviour.
