Government payments transformed from a lifejacket to an enabler for the sector.Ottawa—In the graphs and understated prose of the Farm Income, Financial Conditions and Government Assistance Data Book compiled by Agriculture Canada is the story of a remarkable turnaround in the farm sector during the last decade.Based on 2016 numbers, the Book says total market receipts rose modestly that year to reach $57.9 billion, the highest level over the period 2007-2016. “The increase in market receipts in 2016 was driven by record crop receipts of $34.0 billion, which more than offset a decline in livestock receipts to $23.9 billion.”In contrast, government program payments to the sector totaled $2.4 billion in 2016, which was a modest increase over 2015. “Nonetheless, since 2008 high incomes due to strong market conditions have led to lower program payments.”Agricultural economist Douglas Hedley has been chronicling the farm income situations for years.  “Essentially, one can see three periods; 1867 to 1930s laissez-faire; 1930s to about late 1980s governments deeply involved in both direct support as well as involved directly in buying, selling, exporting, etc.; then from late 1980s to present, government has stepped out of the markets and moved to the WTO principles that support should not be commodity specific, nor affect price or production decisions of the producer.”Hedley authored a paper entitled The Evolution of Agricultural Support Policy in Canada for the Canadian Agriculture Economics Society, which details the changes in federal and provincial farm supports over the years.Hedley's work includes graphs that clearly track the surge of farm cash receipts and net farm income past government programs in 2008.In 1987, then prime minister Brian Mulroney made a $1 billion bailout of Canadian grain growers, a move that was a big deal in its day although farm groups quietly muttered it was half what was required.Then in 2008 low world grain stocks generated a rise in commodity prices that encouraged farmers to increase production. The reward was they were making money. Or as then Conservative cabinet minister and Alberta farmer Ted Menzies accurately quipped, “The best cure for high prices is high prices.”With farmers mostly achieving profitability, governments switched to programs that helped increase production and cushion growers from crop failures and crashing prices. The Canadian Agriculture Partnership is the current iteration of those programs.The Data Book says the 2016 net cash income of $15.4 billion in 2016, “was the highest level yet, surpassing the previous record of $15.0 billion reached in 2015. By comparison, the lowest net cash income over the 2007-2016 period was $7.1 billion in 2007.”Nationally, average total operating revenues were $418,080 and average total operating expenses were $347,084, for an average net operating income of $70,997, it said.“Hog farms had the highest average net operating income in 2014, at $294,862, which was up 154% from a year earlier. Potato farms had the second highest, at $238,519. Average net operating income for grain and oilseed farms stood at $84,492, for dairy farms at $153,611, and for beef cattle farms at $25,764.”Off-farm income still plays an important role. “Average total income of farm families was $117,388 in 2013. Of this, 23 per cent was net operating income and 77 per cent was off-farm income. The largest components of off-farm income, which totaled $90,077, were wages and salaries at $56,135 or 62 per cent, investment income at $10,932 or 12 per cent, and pension income at $12,969 or 14 per cent.“For small farms, off-farm income makes up 93 per cent of average total family income,” the Data Book said. “This figure is 75 per cent for medium farms, 47 per cent for large farms, and 32 per cent for very large farms.”Farm real estate, consisting of land and buildings, made up approximately three-quarters of farm total assets in 2016 when total farm debt stood at $96.0 billion. There were 27 farm bankruptcies in 2016, up slightly from 25 in 2014 and 20 in 2015. Quebec reported the highest number, at 11 in 2016. The number of farm bankruptcies in Canada generally followed a declining trend over the past decade, although this decline has flattened out recently.Total government expenditures on agrifood sector support increased by 20.7 per cent to $6.12 billion in 2016-17 but were expected to drop by 10.6 per cent to $5.47 billion in 2017-18.Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.