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
Why do farmers hate paying taxes?
Reading Time: 3 minutes It didn’t take long in my accounting career to learn that farmers don’t like paying income tax. No one does really, but farmers seem to have a particular disdain for sending money to Ottawa. I think there are a few reasons for this. One is cash basis income tax treatment which means farmers can often […] Read more
New farm income record set in 2023, estimates suggest
Despite challenges like drought and war, Canadian farms proved resilient
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian farm income may have set a new record in 2023. That's according to the official 2023 and 2024
estimates released February 16 by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
Carbon tax an eight per cent hit on net income, APAS says
Reading Time: 2 minutes The average Saskatchewan farmer can expect to lose about eight per cent of his or her annual net farm income to the federal carbon tax to 2020 — and 12 per cent in 2022, the province’s general ag group says. The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan on Monday released new estimates on the financial impacts […] Read more
Canada’s realized net farm income way down in 2018
Reading Time: 3 minutes Stagnant farm cash receipts against significant increases in feed, fuel and interest costs have led to Canada’s biggest decline in realized net farm income in over a decade. That’s according to Statistics Canada, which on Tuesday released full-year farm income data for 2018, pegging realized net farm income for the year at $3.9 billion, down […] Read more
Input costs to chip away at farmers’ shrinking income
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — An anticipated downturn in farm income and higher input costs mean Canadian producers will be in a tough financial position this year, the head of the National Farmers Union (NFU) predicts. Farmers’ net cash income is expected to move lower in 2016, declining nine per cent to $13.6 billion in 2016, according […] Read more
Keeping up with the high cost of farm living
When farmers have more, they spend more. The question is, can farm families stop spending if they have less?
Reading Time: 7 minutes Maybe the biggest surprise is that the numbers aren’t all that surprising. Researchers at the University of Illinois have found the average amount of family living expendables skyrocketed from about $53,000 per farm in 2004 to $81,000 in 2013. After starting at $84 per acre, living costs jumped in that one decade to $121 per […] Read more
Finance metrics you may not have thought of — diagnosing operating inefficiency
AME Management Part 2: The importance of watching and understanding trends and comparisons
Reading Time: 3 minutes Our last column introduced the concept of Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) and used it to define Operating Efficiency Ratio, (EBITDA/Total Revenue). With some exceptions, financially successful farms have Operating Efficiency Ratios above 35 per cent, i.e. with at least 35 cents left from every dollar of sales after paying all non-capital […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
