Americans share in massive subsidies while Canadians get carbon-taxed
Farmers Forum staff
OTTAWA — A massive boost in U.S. government agricultural subsidies this year will grant American farmers their second highest net income of the last two decades, in inflation-adjusted dollars, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast for 2025.
By contrast, Canadian farmers are projected to do considerably worse than their American cousins.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) concedes that while American farmers are forecasted to see a 22 % increase in net cash income this year, Canadian farmers will see a 15 % drop.
“This increase in the U.S. is largely because of supplemental and ad-hoc disaster assistance to farmers and ranchers … which is related to losses due to natural disasters in 2023 and 2024,” Agriculture Canada told Farmers Forum, also claiming that “natural disasters are increasing in severity and frequency around the world due to climate change.”
The AgCanada report did not mention the carbon tax. Extrapolating from a survey of 50 farm energy bills analyzed by the Agriculture Carbon Alliance, the average Canadian farm will pay almost $35,000 in carbon taxes in 2025.
The USDA, however, predicts a slightly less rosy picture for American farmers. It forecasts that U.S. farmers will pull in a combined USD $193.7 billion of net cash income in 2025 — a whopping 19 % increase over 2024. And that’s despite projected declines in cash receipts from crops and livestock after inflation.
Why? Because of support from Uncle Sam in the wildly generous Farm Bill. It will make up the difference with direct payments to American farmers of USD $42.4 billion in 2025, up sharply from $9.3 billion in 2024.
That’s a 355 % increase in U.S. farm subsidies alone.
That includes disaster relief and economic assistance programs, notably the American Relief Act of 2025, which Congress passed in December as part of the U.S. Farm Bill.
This year’s projected farm income south of the border is expected to be second only to 2022, when American farmers pulled in a combined net income of almost USD $198 billion in inflation-adjusted 2025 dollars.
Statistics Canada figures show Canadian farmers, like their American counterparts, hit a two-decade high in profits in 2022. But there will be a stark divergence in 2025, based on the disparity in government support between the two countries this year.
AgCanada pointed out that “Canada and the United States have different arrangements and programs to support farmers in the face of natural disasters, but both provide needed assistance and often have delays in terms of when payments go out relative to when the disaster occurred.”
In 2023, the last year for which Canadian figures are available, Canadian farmers received a combined CDN $4.516 billion in program payments from the government. That same year, American farmers received USD $12.3 billion — a figure set to balloon to USD $42.4 billion in 2025.
There are 1.89 million farms in the United States and about 189,870 farms in Canada. Canada’s population is about 11 % of the U.S. population.
The USDA reports that the average American farm household income (including off-farm income) is expected to hit just over USD $161,049 in 2025, or almost CDN $229,000 at current exchange rates in 2025.
The average Canadian farm household had an average income of CDN $214,089 in 2021, the last year for which figures are available. An average American farm household recorded an average income of CDN $169,100 in that same year.
