BURSTA recent Statistics Canada report revealed a $457 million net loss for the B.C. agricultural sector in 2024, but the BC Agriculture Council and BC Dairy have now responded with a study of their own.
In a new report created by staff at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV), the two agricultural groups cited findings that they said help paint the full picture of the current state of the agricultural sector.
While Statistics Canada shared that the province’s farms suffered a total loss of $456.9 million in 2024, the UFV report explained that the majority of this loss comes from what the study deems “sub-commercial operations.”
Properties are classified as sub-commercial if they make less than $100,000 in annual operating revenue, which was the case for 74.4 per cent of B.C. farms in 2024.
Not only did nearly three-quarters of farms not meet this financial threshold, but more than 40 per cent of them didn’t even make more than $10,000 that year.
UFV assistant professor of agriculture and author of the study, Chris Bodnar, said this is very notable because these small farms are responsible for a significant portion of the total net losses.
The remaining 25.6 per cent of B.C. farms are classified as commercial, which includes 4,100 properties.
These operations pulled in approximately $770 million in net operating income in 2024, representing a profitability of 13.2 per cent.
This paints a much different situation than what is reflected in the $457 million loss reported by Statistics Canada, explained Bodnar.
“Much of the public discussion about agriculture relies on aggregate statistics that can mask what is happening on commercial farms,” said Bodnar.
“What we found is a sector that remains productive and innovative, but one that operates with less financial resilience than other provinces across Canada.”
The UFV study revealed that despite less than four per cent of farms making more than $2 million in annual gross sales, they are responsible for producing 68 per cent of the province’s total farm revenue.
Just below them are the mid-sized operations making between $500,000 and $1.99 million in sales, who contribute less than a third of the total farm revenue even though there are almost twice as many of these sites as the $2 million farms.
B.C. has 1,150 of these mid-sized farms, but they have been quickly disappearing in the past decade.
Compared to 2015, B.C. lost five per cent of farms making between $500,000 and $1 million, and one per cent of farms earning between $1 million and $2 million in sales.
During this same period, Canada also decreased its $500,000 to $1 million farms by two per cent, but saw a massive 39 per cent increase in the number of farms making between $1 million and $2 million.
Bodnar said the mid-size farm sector serves an important role for many reasons, one of which is its ability to provide early indications of agricultural issues.
He said that while sub-commercial farms are often supplemented by non-farm-related income and large commercial farms have the ability to absorb sudden changes within the industry, the mid-size operations are much more vulnerable.
Regardless of the specific type of farming being done, one of the biggest vulnerabilities facing the industry right now is rising costs.
Labour is a major contributor to this, with vegetable and beef farmers having the biggest increases in labour costs, rising by 4.9 and 4.6 per cent, respectively, from 2022 to 2024.
Another costly area is rent, with B.C. commercial farms spending at least 0.5 per cent more on rent than the country average in almost every category. By far the worst for this are tree fruit and nut farms, which spend more than double the national average on rent.
For dairy and poultry/egg farmers, a major rising cost is the price of feed.
While Canadian poultry/egg farmers spend 30.9 per cent of gross revenue on feed, and dairy farmers spend 19.7 per cent on feed, their B.C. equivalents spent six and seven per cent more, respectively.
Danielle Synotte, executive director of the BC Agriculture Council, said these are familiar problems for local farmers.
“The findings provide factual validation to the challenges producers have been raising for years about the unique and increased cost pressures in British Columbia,” said Synotte.
Another advantage of mid-size farms is their ability to reasonably expand to large operations with at least $2 million in sales, with the study arguing that sub-commercial sites typically lack this possibility.
Bodnar said the recent spike in farmland valuations, which increased by 67 per cent from 2015 to 2023, has also made mid-size farmers more likely to take advantage of the inflated real estate prices by selling their farm, especially given the state of the province’s farm debt.
“Farm debt in BC has grown 286 per cent since 2004 – faster than in any other province – and we are now the only major agricultural province without our own agricultural lending institution,” said Bodnar.
“The greatest concern is the growing pressure on mid-sized commercial farms that are critical to the future growth of B.C. agriculture.”
BC Dairy general manager Jeremy Dunn said understanding the full picture of the agricultural sector and the struggles it’s facing is helpful for not just farmers, but the entire province.
“When farms can invest, innovate, and plan for the future, the benefits extend beyond the farm gate to food production, economic growth, and communities across British Columbia,” said Dunn.
“This report provides practical, evidence-based recommendations to help achieve that goal.”
More information on the current state of B.C.’s agricultural sector can be found in the UFV study at farmingattheedge.ca.