The weather is often an easy choice when it comes to determining the top agricultural story of any given year.
And why not? Weather calamities often lead to shortages, market volatility and higher prices, while good growing conditions can lead to bin-busting surpluses, especially in the age of improving crop genetics and management techniques.
But for 2020, Mother Nature was relegated to the back seat. This year instead was all about the COVID-19 pandemic. Responsible for some of the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression, negative inflation rates in Canada and that one dark day in April when crude oil prices fell below zero, the pandemic brought fear, uncertainty, and financial pain to the countryside as well. But as bad as all that was, it paled in comparison to the sickness, death, and isolation it also unleashed.
Still, farmers are a resilient bunch and through it all they continued to do what they do best – put food on kitchen tables across the country and around the world.
Many will remember back in the early spring at the start of the pandemic when farmer surveys turned up major concerns surrounding everything from the availability and delivery of farm inputs to worries about how farm business operations might be impacted.
Indeed, an online survey of 350 farmers conducted by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) found that 78% of respondents expected lost revenue due to value chain disruptions, 73% were anxious about their inability to conduct business as usual and 69% expected reduced cash flow. In Western Canada, a similar-type survey conducted by the Agricultural Producers of Saskatchewan (APAS) from March 24 to April 5 showed that over 70% expected the crisis to result in reduced commodity prices, lower revenue, and reduced cash flow; and close to half reported they may not be able to pay their bills.
The Canadian Pork Council and the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association warned that livestock producers in the country faced millions in losses as COVID-19 outbreaks at planting plants backed up market-ready animals onto the farm.
Canadian farmers were by no means alone. The bottom also fell out of US farmer sentiment, with the monthly Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer showing a decline of 47 points or 28% in March - the largest one-month fall in the life of the index, which dates to October 2015.
In late April, contending that Canadian farms were at risk, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture sought up to $2.6 billion from the federal government to help give producers the confidence to put their 2020 crops in the ground. Ottawa’s response underwhelmed, with just $252 million in announced funding.
Farmers, however, soldiered on. As the pandemic continued, conditions remained dry throughout the spring and early summer in large parts of Western Canada and producers in Ontario were slowed by unseasonably cool weather, but planting went ahead regardless.
In the end, total 2020 Canadian field crop production amounted to an estimated 99 million tonnes, 4.2% higher than in 2019 and officially the largest Canadian harvest on record, surpassing the previous record set in 2013 by 1% and 7% above the previous five-year average. It was a remarkable achievement given the challenges farmers faced, and hungry world buyers have since been snapping up Canadian supplies at a breakneck pace.
Meanwhile, it appears at least some of the early financial concerns have eased as well – at least for crop producers. According to a Statistics Canada farm income report released in late November, nationwide crop receipts through the first three quarters of 2020 were up almost 15% from the same period a year earlier to $30 billion.
On the other hand, livestock returns through the first three quarters of this year were down 2.2% to $19.1 billion.
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