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Farm Economic Viability in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island
Jennifer Scott and Ronald Colman
GPI Atlantic, August 2008
Are farmers in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island earning enough to
stay in business?
-
If not, how will the loss of farms affect jobs and income in rural communities?
-
Do the prices farmers get for farm products cover their costs of production?
-
And how do those prices compare to the cost of food in grocery stores?
-
What, in short, is the future of farming in the Maritimes? — Is farming still a viable institution in the region, and can it survive?
These are some of the provocative questions raised in GPI Atlantic's report on Farm Economic Viability in Nova Scotia and PEI, which examines trends since 1971 in several key indicators of farm economic viability in the two provinces, including:
-
Net farm income
-
Expense to income ratio
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Farm debt
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Total debt to net farm income ratio
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Solvency ratio (total liabilities or debt divided by total assets or capital value of farms)
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Return on investment
The report also presents the total economic contribution of agriculture to the provincial economies of Nova Scotia and PEI (including direct, indirect, and induced impacts) and to job creation in the two provinces, and it contains specific policy recommendations to improve farm economic viability in the Maritimes.
Full report (PDF, 1.5 MB)
The Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada (OACC) gratefully acknowledges
GPI Atlantic
for permission to publish this article on our website.
Posted March 2009