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.

Insurable categories: barley, canola, grain corn, oats, soybeans, wheat for animal consumption and wheat for human consumption that were cultivated to be harvested as grain.

Stabilized income: Production cost including 90% of 0.976 of an operator-owner’s salary. 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: the weighted average selling price having prevailed throughout the insurance year in Québec, as established by La Financière agricole for the following grades of grain:

• Barley: Price of grades 1 and 2
• Grain corn and soybeans: Price of grades 1 to 5
• Oats: Price of grades 1 to 4
• Wheats and canola: Price of grades 1 to 3

Grain crops having incurred a loss in quality for which coverage is offered under the Crop Insurance Program are not taken into account when determining the average selling price.

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 compensation to be paid; any residual amount is spread over the subsequent years.

Specialized farm type

On the model farm, a 333.5 ha area is cultivated, divided among the following product categories:

• 7.1 ha of barley
• 6.2 ha of canola
• 172.5 ha of grain corn
• 15.3 ha of oats
• 115.9 ha of soybeans
• 3.8 ha of wheat for animal consumption
• 12.7 ha of wheat for human consumption

Yields of the specialized farm type:

Barley 2.95 MT/ha
Canola 1.60 MT/ha
Grain corn 8.91 MT/ha
Oats 2.20 MT/ha
Soybeans 2.58 MT/ha
Wheat for animal consumption 3.23 MT/ha
Wheat for human consumption 3.10 MT/ha

Eligibility

• Be domiciled in Québec.
• Be the owner or lessee of the cultivated fields.
• Cultivate at least 15 hectares per category or combination of these categories every insurance year.
• Insure the entire annual production of the product Cereal, Grain Corn and Oilseed Crops.
• Be the owner of the insurable crops that were cultivated in Québec.
• Participate in the program for the product Cereal, Grain Corn and Oilseed Crops 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 AOR, La Financière agricole excludes from insurable areas those on which it is prohibited to cultivate crops. This measure may concern in particular areas that have been deforested and used for agricultural purposes while on the territory of one of the municipalities listed in the AOR.

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

Produce cereals, canola, grain corn and soybeans according to a cultivation plan complying with the Guide des normes en matière de pratiques culturales 2009.

Use, for all the areas of cereals, grain corn and oilseed crops, a variety of seeds classified as being Canada pedigreed grade (Breeder, Select, Foundation, Registered or Certified) and have been subject to valid registration for Québec.

The participant must marketed his wheat intended for the human consumption under the supervision and direction of the Fédération des producteurs de cultures commerciales du Québec in accordance with the Règlement sur la mise en vente en commun du blé destiné à la consommation humaine.

Only considered wheat for human consumption are wheat varieties intended for human consumption as defined in the Règlement sur la mise en vente en commun du blé destiné à la consommation humaine.

Complete seeding by the following final seeding dates:

Barley and oats:  June 15

Canola :
Zones of less than 2600 CHUs: June 10
Zones of 2600 CHUs or over: June 1st
Grain corn: June 1st
Soybeans
Zones of less than 2600 CHUs: June 10
Zones of 2600 CHUs or over: June 15
Wheat for animal consumption, wheat for human consumption:  June 1, except for Service Centres of Alma, Amos, Caplan, Lévis, Québec, Rimouski and Rivière-du-Loup whose seeding deadline is June 5.

Present a cultivation plan when the participant's farming methods differ from those in the Guide des normes en matière de pratiques culturales 2009 published by La Financière agricole.

Insurable areas for which the requirements relating to farming standards, seed types or seeding deadlines are not met will be reduced by taking into account the impact of the method on the yield. The participant must pay, as administrative fees, an amount equal to the difference in the share of the contribution that would have been required to cover the entire insured areas.

Evaluation procedures for insurable volume

The insurable volume is determined by the participant’s declaration of cultivated areas according to the establilshed procedure or by the counting of cultivated areas by La Financière agricole.

Should the participant wish to destroy a crop or change its destination (grain harvested as forage or forage harvested as grain), La Financière agricole must be notified beforehand.

At any time, La Financière agricole may carry out a verification of these declarations.

When La Financière agricole notices, after verification, that the number of units held by the participant at the time of declaration is different than the number of units declared, the insurance will cover the volume actually held. However, the difference will entail the payment, as administrative fees, of an amount equal to the share of the contribution that would have been required on the difference in volume observed.

In the event that the total insurable volumes of all participants for the insurance year in question exceeds the collective insurable limit of 864,000 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 total number of insurable hectares for all categories of 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 899.1 ha, 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 with 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 899.1 hectares is subject to the terms described in the above paragraph, but on all the insured units for the product Cereal, Grain Corn and Oilseed Crops.

Participant Contribution

The share of the premium coming from participants, or the required contribution, may be 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 estimated 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.