Farm Credit Canada's chief agricultural economist says Canadian agriculture benefited from a relatively low dollar throughout 2016.

J.P. Gervais says this trend is expected to continue into 2017.

"We believe that with oil prices remaining fairly stables and interest rates not moving up too fast, all in all we expect the Canadian dollar to average 75 cents in 2017."

That would see the dollar remain below its five-year average value relative to the U.S. dollar.

He says the low dollar not only makes Canada more competitive in agricultural markets relative to some of the world's largest exporters, but it also means higher farm cash receipts for producers whose commodities are priced in U.S. dollars.

"The positive trend for farm cash receipts in Canada has been the fact that our currency is weaker than the US dollar," explained Gervais. "That's a positive for us if you compare that to - for example - the US farm sector, which had a bit of a downturn in 2015-16."

Other factors influencing the sectors performance include energy prices, commodity prices, interest rates, and the global economy and product demand.