Brenda O’Farrell
The Advocate

Given the challenging economic trends with growing inflation, sustained interest rate hikes and the increasing severe weather events that are having uncontrollable impacts on growing seasons and crop outputs, farmers are less optimistic now than they were a year ago, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture claims in its latest report.

“Recent surveys have shown that the combination of high input costs, inflation, interest and debt levels are weighing heavily on the overall confidence of Canadian farmers,” states the Farm Financial Health Report 2023-2024, a 33-page overview issued by the CFA earlier this month. “When coupled with extreme weather-related events across the country, farmers are less confident in their farm financial security now and for the future than they were even one year ago.”

The report points to a survey conducted by the University of Guelph in 2021 that found that just more than three-quarters of Canadian farmers suffer from the effects of stress. More specifically, 77 per cent said they attribute their stress to the “unpredictability of the agricultural sector and feeling a loss of control,” 73 per cent attribute it to financial pressures, while 72 per cent cited workload pressures or a sense of lacking time.

The Guelph study also showed that farmers have suicidal thoughts at twice the rate of the general population.

Dealing with these high levels of stress, the report claims, can be managed, in part, through providing effective risk management and financial planning services, the authors claim.

The university survey highlights that 88 per cent of producers who follow a written business plan expressed having greater peace of mind in dealing with the growing challenges, while 77 per cent of producers who do not have a written business plan believe it would contribute to greater peace of mind.

But the process of committing a plan to paper is not straightforward.

“Producers are hesitant to plan because of the increasingly unpredictable natural environment, global economy, trade and geopolitical context,” the CFA report states.