Industry Outlook
The agricultural industry has seen massive growth, and is forecasted to continue to be prosperous. 2014 was a record year for farm income due to growing strength in the cattle and hog industry, relatively stable input costs, and strong crop sales. In addition, aggregate net cash income for 2014 was roughly 14 billion dollars, which rang in 10 percent higher than the previous record, broken in 2013.
The agricultural industry is essential to Canada’s economic system, creating a consistent demand for jobs in the field, especially in the trade sectors.
Farm-level average net operating income is also forecast to be an all-time high this coming year, and average net work per farm is expected to set new records of 2.1 million dollars in 2015. As the industry continues to grow, farm incomes are expected to stay historically high and agriculture equipment business are expected to continue their prosperity as new technology is integrated.
New programs, such as AgForesight, continue to emerge in an effort to streamline advanced farm operations analytics and help producers be as efficient as possible. This program aggregates all forms of collected data from several different programs, making all the collected information available in one customizable, real-time dashboard.
There is a focused drive toward efficiency as the key to improving farming operations. While the agricultural industry was once looking to move to more complex technology and operations, simplicity and efficiency are now the goals.