“There are farms that will close”: half of Quebec farmers caught by the throat by inflation

Not only are half of the producers being taken by the throat by inflation, but more than 30% of them are no longer even able to generate enough income to cover their expenses at the moment, warns the Union of Agricultural Producers. (UPA).

“It’s definitely going to hurt. There are farms that are going to close. We could lose producers due to the lack of new workers, labor and inflation,” worries Vincent Anger-Deslauriers, co-owner of Ferme Régrain, in Beloeil, in the county of La Vallée-du- Richelieu.

“We can’t come anymore. Our revenues have increased by about 8%, while inputs have jumped by 20%,” adds the fourth-generation dairy producer from Montérégie.

At the UPA, it is estimated that one in ten farms could be wiped off the map within a year if the perfect inflationary storm continues.

Negative balance

According to a recent survey by the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA), carried out among 3,675 members, we learn that two out of ten agricultural businesses say they are in “bad” or “very bad” financial health and nearly half fear deterioration over the year.

“We are followed by a management group to keep the boat afloat. We’re getting there, but we’re going year by year, month by month. We no longer have the right to madness”, shares in the Log Vincent Anger-Deslauriers, a 30-year-old producer.

In Quebec as a whole, nearly 30% of producers expect to have a negative balance due to interest rate hikes and 40% even go so far as to fear payment default.

Clouds on the horizon

In a press release, Wednesday morning, the general president of the UPA, Martin Caron, recalled that the explosion in the cost of inputs (+27.9%) was almost three times greater than inflation (+11, 8%), between January 2020 and September 2022.

“The horizon is darkening for a growing number of farms, especially start-ups. It is not too late, but there is urgency to act”, he declared.

➤ More than 60% of farmers plan to “reduce or postpone their investments”, which risks having serious repercussions on the Quebec agri-food sector.