News
Farm Product Price Index

February 2008

Prices farmers received for their commodities rose 8.7 per cent in February 2008 from the same month a year earlier as crop prices continue to soar, more than compensating for diminishing livestock prices.

Prices that producers received for crops continued their double-digit increases, up 26.2 per cent in February 2008 compared with February 2007. Prices for specialty crops were up the highest at 63.3 per cent. According to the Farm Product Price Index (FPPI), farmers received higher prices for all crops except vegetables and fruits.

However, prices for livestock and animal products were 4.7 per cent below their February 2007 level, the sixth consecutive year-to-year decline as cattle and hog prices continued to fall. Hog, cattle and calf prices have posted nine months of year-to-year decreases. For the last six months, those declines have been double digit-for hog prices for an overall decrease of 23.2 per cent since February 2007.

On a monthly basis, prices farmers received for their commodities were up 4.9 per cent in February from a month earlier, as both the livestock and animal products index and the crops index recorded increases.

The FPPI stood at 113.4 (1997=100) in February, up from the revised January 2008 index of 108.1.

The overall livestock and animal products index was up 5.8 per cent in February compared with the revised January index as all commodities recorded increases.

Despite increasing in February, cattle and hog prices remain well below the prices received in the first three quarters of last year. Swelling feed grain prices and a strong Canadian dollar have put downward pressure on cattle, calf and hog prices.

The total crops index was up 5.0 per cent in February compared with the revised January index, as all prices except fruit climbed. Continued demand, tightening supplies and uncertainty over new crop production pushed grain and oilseed prices to exceptional levels.