Statistics Canada is reporting that realized net farm income rose 7.6% in 2016 to $8.8 billion.

This marks the third consecutive year and the sixth time in seven years that realized net farm income has increased.

Realized net income is the difference between a farmer's cash receipts and operating expenses, minus depreciation, plus income in kind.

Slightly lower operating expenses together with a small increase in farm cash receipts contributed to the gain in 2016.

Manitoba showed an increase of about 38% last year.

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Farm cash receipts, which include market receipts from crop and livestock sales as well as program payments, edged up 0.5% in 2016 to $60.0 billion.

The increase was the smallest since 2010, the last year farm cash receipts declined.

Manitoba posted a gain of 2% in 2016.

Farm cash receipts for Canadian farmers totalled $16.1 billion in the first quarter of 2017, up 1.0% from the same quarter a year earlier.

Increases in program payments and crop receipts were just enough to offset a decline in livestock receipts.

Farm cash receipts rose 4.8% in Manitoba in the first quarter of 2017.