Ten most popular articles in 2022 from FCC Economics
Jean-Philippe Gervais
Executive Vice President, Strategy & Impact, and Chief Economist
I am very grateful to work with the most talented team of economists and appraisers in Canada. And we're very proud to serve the industry that feeds the world. In the spirit of recognition, here are the 10 most popular articles based on the number of downloads from our FCC / FAC website.
This was the first of many sector outlooks published in 2022. At the time, the threat of war in Ukraine was one of the geopolitical risks on our radar. Little did we know that the war would become arguably the top driver of grain and oilseed markets in 2022.?
We expressed cautious optimism in the cattle/hog outlook published on February 8th. The subsequent quarterly updates released throughout the year would only amplify the profitability challenges arising because of elevated feed prices.?
As for other livestock sectors, the top threat to profitability in dairy has been elevated feed prices. The dairy outlook published on February 1st outlined how the increase in milk price partially offset the higher cost of production. ?
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the resulting human tragedy has touched us all. The economic impact also promised to be significant when we released this analysis on March 1st. ??
This is the first of many farmland topics that cracked our top 10. The appetite for analysis on farmland values and rental rates is undeniable.
Our food report (released on March 29th) featured projections for 7 different food processing sectors. Margin pressures in the context of inflation was one of the key trends to monitor.
This analysis featured trends in farmland values for the first 6 months of 2022. The pace of increase in farmland values seemed to have accelerated. The report also notes how the first 6 months may not be a good barometer to understand the impact of rising rates.?
We featured 5 charts at the beginning of the year which we thought would reflect the most important trends to monitor in the economy. At the top of the list? Interest rates.?
This isn't a coincidence that our most popular macroeconomic update was published following the super-sized rate increase of the Bank of Canada in July. Now we know there were multiple more increases to come!
Not a surprise to us all to find farmland rental rates at the top of the rankings. This article collected nearly doubled the number of downloads of the second most popular article. There’s a robust demand for information on the farmland rental market. Stay tuned for more on this topic in 2023!??