Photo provided by UdeM.
Cannabis is now generating more cash income, as a raw commodity, for New Brunswick producers than potatoes, blueberries, or maple syrup.
According to the latest numbers from Statistics Canada, Cannabis generated $244.7-million in farm cash receipts for producers in the province in 2020.
Farm cash receipts represent the cash income received from the sale of agricultural commodities as well as direct program payments made to support or subsidize the agriculture sector.
That’s significantly more than fresh potatoes, which generated $152.9-million in farm cash receipts last year. Fresh fruit, like blueberries, generated $36.9-million. Maple syrup and other maple products generated $20.6-million.
Economist David Campbell says this is the first year cannabis has been included in the farm cash receipt statistics because there weren’t enough players in the space to meet the requirement of the Statistics Act in previous years.
“Now there’s enough players and diversity there that they can actually publish that number,” says Campbell. “It just popped on the radar right out of the blue as a very large number … It’s a significant thing.”
But it’s important to note that potatoes still contribute more to New Brunswick’s overall GDP than cannabis. That’s because there are more value-add potato products produced in the province.
“What happens with potatoes is they get turned into French Fries, they get turned into potato chips and other products. When you add all that together, the GDP contribution from potatoes is much higher, it’s close to double what we’re getting from cannabis,” says Campbell. “I think that’s a key point is that the value-add is part of this. But as a raw crop, the receipts from cannabis now are significantly higher than potatoes.”
Campbell says these cash receipt statistics show that New Brunswick is producing much more cannabis than it needs for the local market and that it’s becoming an export sector for the province. The question now is how we go about fostering that.
“At the end of the day, the same way you would look at how do you grow your wine industry, or how do you grow your spirits industry or beer industry, that’s now what you could be doing with cannabis,” says Campbell.
Brennan Sisk of the New Brunswick Cannabis Office says the latest statistic is impressive. He says as more value-added products are made out of cannabis in New Brunswick, the crop could potentially outpace potatoes in terms of GDP growth too.
“The bottom line is yea, I can see the cannabis industry outpacing the potato industry, even on a GDP level,” says Sisk. “It’s whether we navigate the path correctly to be able to get there.”
Campbell says New Brunswick’s biggest risk when it comes to growing its cannabis sector is competition. He predicts consolidation of cannabis production across the country in the next five to 10 years and the province needs to come out on top of that.
“This is the risk for New Brunswick, is that the industry consolidates, [and local producers] are consolidated into national firms, then maybe over time they reduce their New Brunswick operations,” says Campbell.
“There’s too much manufacturing capacity right now. There will be winners and losers and we just need to make sure we’re a winner.”
Cherise Letson is the associate editor of Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
