Dans quelle mesure les agriculteurs canadiens sont-ils financièrement solides?
Canadian farmland has a long track record of producing steady, equity-like returns that are uncorrelated with the ups and downs of other financial assets. Bonnefield’s research has shown that long-term farmland returns are highly correlated with, and are primarily a function of, the long-term improvement in the productive capacity of farmland. Simply put, as crop yields have improved over time, and as farm operations have become more efficient through consolidation and technical improvements, the “earnings power” of the underlying farmland itself has increased, leading to an increase in both farmland values and farmland rents.
An analogy is to think of farmland like shares in a public company. If the productivity of a company improves, one would expect its profits to improve and the price of its shares to increase accordingly. But if, in management’s drive to improve the company’s productivity and profitability, they take on too much debt or weaken the company’s financial liquidity, then its profitability (and, therefore, share price) is put at risk.
The same is true of farmland. If the farm sector’s debt load were to increase to the point where farmers’ financial liquidity deteriorates substantially, farmland prices and rents would potentially be at risk. Such was the case in the early 1980’s when a debt boom coincided with declining crop prices and skyrocketing interest rates, resulting in a rare period of widespread farmland price declines.
La question évidente est donc : Dans quelle mesure les agriculteurs canadiens sont-ils financièrement solides?? Most farmers rely on debt to capitalize their operations. Are they sufficiently liquid to withstand a period of crop price stagnation and/or interest rate increases? Are we potentially at risk of a 1980’s-style farm crisis?
Statistics Canada’s most recent Farm Financial Survey suggests that the clear majority of Canadian farmers are in sound financial shape.
Analyse récente de Financement agricole Canada concluded that in 2015, 82% of Canada’s grain and oilseed producers had debt-to-equity ratios of less than 0.3. 77% of vegetable producers and 63% of potato producers had similarly low debt levels. More importantly, Canadian farmers appear well positioned to continue to service those debt levels as indicated by healthy debt-service ratios (net income divided by annual debt service payments). More than 2/3rds of all grain, oilseed, vegetable and potato producers in Canada had ratios du service de la dette supérieur à 2,5, résultat de plusieurs années de fortes rentrées de fonds et de faibles taux d’intérêt.
FCC’s analysis also concluded that the “overall liquidity position of Canadian agriculture is strong”. The average current ratio (current assets divided by current liabilities) of all Canadian farmers was 3.0 in 2015, with the grain and oilseed sector especially strong at 3.6. To put this in perspective, FCC considers a farmer’s financial liquidity to be adequate if they have a current ratio of 1.5 and most Canadian farmers have current ratios well in excess of these levels.
La bonne liquidité financière du secteur agricole canadien contraste avec celle des agriculteurs américains qui, selon FCC, ont connu une baisse de leur ratio de liquidité générale, passant de 2,87 en 2012 à 1,55 en 2016. Contrairement à leurs homologues américains, les agriculteurs canadiens ont été dans une certaine mesure protégés de la baisse des prix du maïs et du soja par un taux de change USD/CAD favorable et une combinaison plus diversifiée. des cultures (en particulier le canola et les légumineuses, dont les prix restent élevés).
En effet, Statistique Canada a publié fin novembre des chiffres montrant que les revenus agricoles canadiens (« recettes monétaires agricoles ») pour les 9 premiers mois de 2017 étaient en hausse de 3,31 TP3T par rapport à la même période en 2016. Il s'agit de la septième année consécutive au cours de laquelle les agriculteurs canadiens connaissent une augmentation de leurs revenus d'une année à l'autre. De plus, les bénéfices agricoles canadiens, tels que mesurés par le revenu agricole net réalisé, ont augmenté de 4,21 TP3T en 2016, la 6e augmentation de ce type au cours des sept dernières années.
The bottom line is that we are reassured by Statistics Canada’s most recent Farm Financial Survey showing that the clear majority of Canadian farmers, particularly grain, oilseed, potato and vegetable producers (the sectors that Bonnefield focuses on) are in sound financial shape.