Farm Financial Survey (FFS)

Detailed information for 2025

The Farm Financial Survey, an initiative by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Statistics Canada, provides data on farm assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses, capital investments and capital sales.

• Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)
• Description
• Data sources and methodology

Description

The Farm Financial Survey provides data on farm assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses, capital investments and capital sales. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada uses the data to examine the effects of agriculture programs and policies on different types of farm operations by province. Farm Financial Survey (FRFN) data contribute some measures of assets and liabilities to programs within Statistics Canada.

Reference period: Calendar year

Collection period: August - October

Subjects

• Agriculture and food (formerly Agriculture)
• Farm financial statistics

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The target population for the survey consists of all Canadian agriculture operations that are active at the end of the reference year. Specific farms are excluded from the target population, such as farms with less than $25,000 in sales from agricultural activities; institutional farms; community pastures; farms on First Nations reserves; and farms that are part of multi-holding companies.

Instrument design

The original development of the survey questionnaire was based on agricultural financial balance sheet and income statement concepts, and it was pilot tested. There have been few changes to these core items.

Interviewers and collection managers participate in a telephone debriefing and provide answers to a set of written debriefing questions. All comments are considered in the following development cycle.

Sampling

This is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design.

Using a list of all the farms from the Business Register, an establishment is assigned to a stratum by province, by farm type and by farm size. The size stratum is determined by the revenues and the assets of the establishment. The sampling unit is the establishment.

A simple random sampling is selected in each stratum. The sample is allocated to different strata using statistical methods to optimize the precision of the resulting estimates.

The initial sample is slightly modified because sample coordination is performed with other agricultural surveys when their collection period overlaps with the Farm Financial Survey. The overlapping units are replaced, as much as possible, by other units of the population.

The sample size is about 10,000 farms.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: 2026-08-04 to 2026-10-19

Responding to this survey is mandatory.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents and extracted from administrative files.

Data are collected using an invitation to open, complete and submit an electronic questionnaire. If the questionnaire is not completed on-line by the deadline, the respondent will be contacted for a scheduled telephone interview.

In an effort to reduce the response burden on farmers, Statistics Canada uses data from the Canada Revenue Agency, to replace the following 20 questions on revenues and expenses:

- Total gross farm revenue
- Revenue: Sale of grains, oilseeds, pulse crops and forage seeds
- Revenue: Sale of horticulture products
- Revenue: Sale of cattle
- Revenue: Sale of pigs
- Revenue: Sale of poultry
- Revenue: Sale of milk, cream and other dairy products
- Revenue: Agriculture custom of contract work or machine rentals
- Revenue: All other farm revenue
- Revenue: Total amount received for program payments

- Total farm operating expenses
- Operating expenses: Fertilizer and lime
- Operating expenses: Herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, etc.
- Operating expenses: Seed and plants
- Operating expenses: Feed, supplements and hay
- Operating expenses: Fuel for machinery, trucks and automobiles
- Operating expenses: Total interest paid on farm debt
- Operating expenses: Land rentals
- Operating expenses: Heating fuels
- Operating expenses: Electricity


Commencing with the 2015 reference year, data from the Farm Financial Survey will be linked with taxation data at the micro level. Linkage results will be used to produce aggregate estimates for revenues and expenses data.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .