Productions covered

General principles

Compensation: Program intervention when the selling price is lower than the stabilized income.
Compensation = Stabilized income - Average selling price

The payment of compensation is limited to the maximum total of all products covered for each fiscal period. Should that amount be exceeded, a reduction in compensation will be applied to all the products.

Insurance year: from August 15 to August 14 of the following year.

Stabilized income: production cost, including 90% of the salary of 1.020 operator-owners. Earnings on equity, contributions from crop insurance and other risk management programs are not included in the stabilized income.

Production cost: that of a specialized farm type whose parameters and expenses are indexed annually.

Selling price: weighted average of the price of late-variety apples graded "fancy" and apples for processing sold in Québec during the insurance year.

Link between ASRA and AgriStability, AgriInvest and Agri-Québec:

• Compensation payments made in the framework of the Farm Income Stabilization Insurance (ASRA) Program take into account payments granted under the AgriStability, AgriInvest and Agri-Québec programs or under any government risk management program involving farm income;
• ASRA compensation payments for participants who do not participate in AgriStability are reduced by 40%.
  Amounts corresponding to AgriInvest and Agri-Québec are cumulated and lead to a reduction in the compen-sation to be paid; any residual amount is spread over the subsequent years.
  

Specialized farm type

Farm with 10,344 late-variety apple trees, 1,481 of which are of a standard type, 3,272 of which are of a semi-dwarf type and 5,591 of which are of a dwarf type, extending over an area of 26.4 hectares. All these apple trees represent a farm size of 2,473.7  tree units.

Yields of the 2006 specialized farm type before annualization used, regardless of grade, is 197.9  per tree unit (10.39 bushels per tree unit).

The quality percentage of late-variety apples graded “extrafancy” and “fancy”, after grading at the packer, corresponds to 51.1%.

The total production volume marketed is 489,635  (25,701 bushels), broken down as follows:

• for late-variety apples graded “extrafancy” and “fancy” by the packer: 250,104 kg (13,128 bushels);
• for late-variety apples intended directly for processing: 172,490 kg (9,054 bushels);
• for late-variety apples downgraded by the packer and intended for processing: 67,041 kg (3,519 bushels).
  

Eligibility

• Be domiciled in Québec.
• Insure the entire production of insurable apples.
• Produce, every insurance year, at least 1,000 bushels of late-variety apples graded “extrafancy” and “fancy”. However, to allow for weather-related conditions affecting quality, participants will be considered as having reached the insurable minimum if, during either of the two previous years, they marketed at least 1,000 bushels of insurable apples graded “extrafancy” and “fancy” and, during the current year, they marketed at least 1,639 bushels of insurable apples.
• Be the owner of the insurable apples that were cultivated in Québec.
• Participate in the program for the product Apples for a period of five years.
  
• Enrolment deadline: April 30.
  

Cross compliance measures

When the Ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs (MDDEP) transmits information to La Financière agricole establishing that the participant did not submit a valid phosphorus report as stipulated under the Agricultural Operations Regulation (AOR), the participant loses the right to any compensation for the current insurance year for all the insured products. Moreover, the participant will be required to pay, as an administrative fee, an amount equal to the contribution that would have been due on all the insured products.

The provisions related to the phosphorus report concern all the raising or spreading sites owned, leased or on which the operation custom produces. It targets all the operation's productions, whether or not they are covered by a program at La Financière agricole.

For more information on the requirements related to the phosphorus report, participants should consult an agrologist or the regional office of the MDDEP.

In accordance with the Protection Policy for Lakeshores, Riverbanks, Littoral Zones and Floodplains, La Financière agricole excludes from insurable units cultivated units within a three-metre strip of vegetation with respect to riverbanks.

Conditions for participation

Insured participants must sell their insurable apples to authorized buyers, as stipulated in the Québec Regulation respecting the sale of apples. Participants who are both apple producers and authorized agents are not obliged to sell to an authorized agent. However, even if participants are authorized agents, their apples are only insurable if they are sold to a third party other than a consumer.

Participants who do not comply with this condition will have their insurable volume reduced by the number of units in question. Moreover, the participant who fails to comply will be required to pay, as an administrative fee, an amount equal to the contribution that would have been due on the insurable volume.

Evaluation procedures for insurable volume

Insurable apples: late-variety apples, sold before being processed when they are:

• graded "extra fancy” and "fancy”, meeting the standards stipulated in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Regulation and intended for human consumption in a fresh state;
• sent for processing, including apples for deer.
  

However, apples meeting the above criteria are not insurable when they are sold directly to the consumer, in particular through you-pick, at a farm stand or public market.

The insurable volume is determined on the basis of the volumes of insurable apples sold to authorized agents. The volumes are transmitted by the Fédération des producteurs de pommes du Québec or are based on an inventory made by La Financière agricole.

In the event that the total insurable volumes (converted to total insurable areas) of all participants for the insurance year in question exceed the collective insurable limit of 5,000 hectares, the unit compensation and the year's unit contribution will be established by applying a ratio resulting from the division of the collective insurable limit by the insurable area determined for all participants for the year in question.

General

Financing of the Premium

One third of the premium comes from the participants and two thirds of the premium comes from La Financière agricole.

For participants whose insurable volume exceeds 1,274,868  kg, 50% of the premium comes from participants and 50% from La Financière agricole for the volume exceeding that threshold. However, the share of the premium associated to the accumulated deficit, as of March 31, 2010, will continue to be financed based on a 1/3 - 2/3 ratio.

Any new participant affiliated with an operation that, as of November 11, 2009, had an insurable volume exceeding 1,274,868 kg is subject to the terms described in the above paragraph, but on all the insured units for the product Apples.

Participant Contribution

The share of the premium coming from participants, or the required contribution, is deducted from the first compensation advance for the year. If need be, any remaining contribution is deducted from a later payment or recovered, at the latest, prior to the final payment for the insurance year in question. For a new participant, however, half the contribution is due upon enrolment.

Reduction in Contribution

Any farm operator qualifying a participant for a grant under the Financial Support Program for Aspiring Farmers at La Financière agricole du Québec, makes it possible for the participant to benefit from a 25% reduction in his or her contributions, up to $50,000 annually for all insured products. The reduction applies for two consecutive years.

To be eligible for the reduction, the participant must remain eligible for the grant for the full period of the insurance year in question.

From the time the establishment grant is confirmed, the participant has two years in which to apply for the reduction in contribution.

Administrative Fee

The participant must pay annual administrative fees for each insured product or category of product in accordance with the Règlement sur les frais exigibles par La Financière agricole du Québec.

Compensation

The final compensation is paid at the latest by the January 31 following the end of the insurance year.

It is possible for La Financière agricole to pay compensation advances throughout the insurance year.

Application for review

Any request for a review of a final decision rendered regarding a participant's insurance file must be made in writing, explaining the motives behind the request, and sent to the Service Centre in charge of the participant's file or delivered in person to a representative of La Financière agricole within ninety (90) days from the date of the decision in question. However, program conditions and parameters or program premises, the results of collective appraisals for crop insurance losses and exclusion from programs for motives provided for in the programs may not be subject to a request for a review.

This summary, in effect for the 2012-2013 insurance year, in no way takes precedence over the provisions of the Program, of the regulation in effect or of any policy of La Financière agricole.