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: January 1 to December 31.

Stabilized income: production cost including 90% of the wages of 0.799 operator-owner. Earnings on equity and the stabilization insurance contribution for the product concerned are not included in the stabilized income.

Production cost: that of a farm type specializing in the production of hogs using a farrow-to-finish production method, whose parameters and expenses are indexed annually.

For the products Piglets and Hogs, compensation is calculated for the production of hogs marketed by the farrow-to-finish type farm. Compensation is then broken down with 40% allotted for the product Piglets and 60% for the product Hogs.

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

• Compensation payments made in the framework of the Farm Income Stabilization Insurance Program (ASRA) take into account payments granted under the AgriStability, AgriInvest and Agri-Québec programs or under any government risk management program involving farm income;
• To continue to benefit from full coverage, ASRA participants must participate in AgriStability. ASRA compensation payments for those who do not participate in AgriStability are reduced by 40%.

Model farm

Farm with 225 sows (including gilts).

The annual production is 20.8 piglets per sow in inventory, or 4,695 piglets produced.

The average weight of piglets produced is 25.1 kg (55 lb).

Eligibility

• Be domiciled in Québec.
• Be the owner of the animals that were raised in Québec.
• Cumulate an insurable minimum of 23 sows (including replacement females) for every insurance year.
• This minimum insurable must be respected on an annual basis even if the producer enrols in the program or terminates his or her participation during the insurance year.
  
• Insure all insurable sows.
• Participate in the Program for the product Piglets for a period of five years.
• No enrolment deadline. However, the date that marks the beginning of the enrolment period corresponds to the registration date to the program, determined by the date on which the application form is received.
  

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.

Evaluation procedures for insurable volume

Insurable sow: any sow having completed at least one gestation.

The insurable volume is based on the declaration or the inventory in the fall and spring. A factor of 1.22 is used to include replacement sows.

The number of insurable sows is adjusted in relation to the number of months insured.

When La Financière agricole notices, after verification, that the number of insurable 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. The participant must pay, as an administrative fee, an amount equal to the share of the contribution that would have been due on the difference in the volume observed.

In the event that the total of the insurable volumes of all participants for the insurance year in question exceeds the collective insurable limit of 370,000 sows, 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 units 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 684 sows, 50% of the premium comes from participants and 50% from La Financière agricole for the volumes 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 684 sows (including replacement females) is subject to the terms described in the above paragraph, but on all the insured units for the product Piglets.

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.

Reduction in Contribution

Any farm operator qualifying a participant for an establishment 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 entitled to for the reduction, the participant must remain eligible for the establishment 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

Annual administrative fees of $55 per category or insured product are charged. These fees may be indexed annually.

Compensation

The final compensation is paid at the latest by the April 30 following the end of the insurance year.

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