Alberta ranchers stuck in similar ruts

By Greg Lakes, editor
Headwaters News
June 12, 2002

The region's farmers and ranchers seem to get little in the way of a break from any direction.

They're under pressure to curb grazing on public land, to defend their domain from encroaching suburbs and their stock from conflicts with wildlife, to keep their animals fed and watered in the midst of a drought and their irrigation supplies intact in the face of increasing demand for water.

And they -- at least those who aren't wealthy businessmen maintaining a tax write-off -- hold out hope of turning a profit in markets that seem perpetually depressed.

It's no doubt small consolation, but their counterparts across the Canadian border struggle with many of the same issues.

Across Canada, family farms and ranches are being squeezed out of existence, although arguably less in Alberta.

Alberta farms showed the country's highest gross receipts. The province's farms are the largest in the country and they're disappearing at a slower rate than in other provinces, according to Statistics Canada.

The Calgary Herald finds much to praise about the trend, although it notes that 90 percent of Alberta farmers' gross revenue goes toward expenses, a painfully thin margin.

And while Alberta farms are also disappearing, the Herald concludes they're the smaller, least profitable operations, and that bigger is clearly better.

There are now 30,000 fewer farms in Canada than there were in World War II, the result of improved technology and economies of scale, with the greatest drop between 1996 and 2001.

Alberta and British Columbia's losses were lowest, 9.1 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively.

Larger producers can be more profitable by diversifying, blurring the line between farm and ranch. Cattle, grains and oilseeds and dairy farms have increased by 35.6 per cent in Alberta and average 970 acres, compared with the national average of 676 acres.

Higher cattle prices gave Alberta ranchers a boost last year, nearly doubling Alberta's net farm income, but experts warned it was little cause for celebration.

The previous two years had been exceptionally bad, spokesmen said, and impressive gains by comparison simply took the edge off the crisis.

Ranchers say this year bodes ill, given a persistent drought and higher U.S. farm subsidies that will likely cut their profit margins even thinner.

Have an opinion? Join the discussion in this week's forum.

Or click here to view all our forums.