Reading Time: 7 minutes Some farm managers love to spend the winter poring over their financial statements and analyzing all ratios and indicators and how they’ve changed over time. Others would rather be outside working with cattle or at conferences learning the latest disease management techniques. If you’re not in the first category, your banker might know more about […] Read more
A guide to farm financial ratios
Long lists of available financial ratios can be overwhelming. Here are three financial ratios that matter to bankers and how understanding them can strengthen your farm’s financial future
Shifting tides bring change to agriculture
Summer Series: Will short-term pain cause long-term gain for Canada’s ag industry?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Warren Buffet once said, “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” Well, the tide is going out in primary producer agriculture. Who will be left with clothes on? Is the shifting tide due to the highest cost of production ever? The changing policy discussions? The geopolitical factors that come […] Read more
The value of Alberta farms rises again
Rising land prices – fuelled by higher crop prices – up by $8 billion but debt also rose in 2020
Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – You’re richer than you think — and you owe more, too. That could be the theme of StatsCan’s latest snapshot of farm equity, the number you get when subtracting farm debts from the value of assets. If you had put all of the assets of every farm in Canada on the auction […] Read more
From bad to worse, to better again
How one farm couple and their financial advisor restructured significant debt to dig them out of dire financial circumstances
Reading Time: 6 minutes Art Lange, left, walks the field edge and says that in an ideal world, every farm would make money every year and every farm manager would always make the best financial decisions. But it’s not a perfect world. Well-kept financial records help. So do staying on top of production costs and following a budget, but […] Read more
China, drought, debt shake Canadian farm finances
Reading Time: 3 minutes Winnipeg/Ottawa | Reuters — For years, the financial stability of Canadian farmers was the envy of their U.S. counterparts, but rising costs, drought and a dispute with China have weakened their bottom lines. Net incomes plunged last year, and that setback was followed in March by China’s halting purchases of canola, Canada’s biggest crop. Now […] Read more
Trump says more farm aid coming amid China trade war
Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — President Donald Trump said on Monday that his administration was planning to provide about US$15 billion in aid to help U.S. farmers whose products may be targeted with tariffs by China amid a deepening trade war. “We’re going to take the highest year, the biggest purchase that China has ever made […] Read more
Trump administration eyes more aid to farmers if necessary
Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — The Trump administration is ready to provide more federal aid to farmers if required, a White House adviser said on Monday, after rolling out up to US$12 billion since last year to offset agricultural losses from the trade dispute with China. “We have allocated $12 billion, some such, to farm assistance. […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soybeans inch up on China purchases
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures inched upward on Thursday on news that Chinese state-owned firms bought at least 500,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans, while wheat futures dropped to their lowest levels in more than a year on pressure from a strengthening dollar, traders said. Chinese state-owned firms bought the U.S. soybeans for shipment […] Read more
Ag balance sheet points to stable farm economy
Reading Time: 3 minutes CNS Canada — Canadian farmers saw their farm equity climb almost seven per cent last year compared to the year before — and Farm Credit Canada’s principal agricultural economist said that falls in line with FCC’s analysis. Data released by Statistics Canada on Wednesday showed 2017 farm equity climbed to $535.3 billion, up $34.6 billion […] Read more
Farm bankruptcies down, but not out – just different
Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | CNS Canada – Fewer farms means fewer bankruptcies but with that simple equation comes the realization that the size and tone of those bankruptcies in North America is growing. “They are larger, the amount of debt is greater, the fact that we’re not seeing a higher number doesn’t mean there isn’t considerable distress […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
