AI Analysis: Cash receipts from milk and cream sold off farms

Executive Summary

Canada's cash receipts from milk and cream sold off farms grew 473.7% over nearly five decades, rising from $1.6 billion in 1976 to a peak of $9.15 billion in 2025, based on 73,041 valid monthly records across 11 provinces and 29 financial categories. The data is heavily right-skewed — with a mean of $20,988K versus a median of just $754K — reflecting a small number of very large national-level receipts dominating the average. Regional disparities, structural deductions, and 9 detected outlier months further illustrate the complexity and variability underlying Canada's supply-managed dairy sector.

Key Findings

• Cash receipts from milk and cream grew 473.7% nationally, from approximately $1.60 billion in 1976 to a record $9.15 billion in 2025, reflecting consistent long-term growth across all decades.
• The dataset is heavily right-skewed, with a mean value of $20,988K — roughly 28 times higher than the median of $754K — driven by a small number of very large national-level receipt figures.
• Values span an enormous range, from -$11,210K (deductions such as transportation, promotion, and levies) to $841,018K, across 73,041 valid records out of 112,425 total.
• Nine outlier months were detected using a rolling z-score method (|z| > 2), representing periods where monthly receipts deviated significantly from the 12-month rolling average trend.
• The standard deviation of $71,338K is more than three times the mean, confirming the data is highly variable and far from normally distributed across its 29 financial categories.
• Regional analysis across all 10 provinces and a national aggregate reveals clear top and bottom performers in average total cash receipts, with color-coded rankings spanning the full 1976–2025 period.
• A correlation analysis of 11 key variables over 1995–2010 identified clusters of strongly correlated receipt and deduction categories, suggesting shared drivers such as supply management policy and broader dairy market conditions.