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Business Risk Management

Every farmer deals with different types and levels of risk – whether it’s flooding, hail, insects, weeds, prices, or markets – farmers need to have a “toolbox” to manage risk before it affects their farm.

At CCGA, we want these toolboxes to come with choice; a farmer should have a variety of business risk management (BRM) tools available that work for the demands of their farm. This way, they can build a strategy that works for their individual operation.

CCGA’s policy development efforts in risk management currently focus on the following:​

Storm and grain bins

How BRM programming works

The suite of BRM programming is a Federal and Provincial responsibility and is part of the Sustainable Canadian Agriculture Partnership (S-CAP) which is a five-year agreement between the two levels of government. That is why CCGA is finding ways to interact with the government officials responsible for BRM programming. To do this CCGA co-created and currently co-chairs a multi-sector industry BRM working group intended to drive discussion across sectors and allow for a conduit to meet with government officials.  

Programs:

Each of the national programs are designed to respond differently:  

  • AgriInsurance is based on an insured level of production.  

  • AgriStability is a margin-based program that takes into account income and a modified list of variable expenses.   

    • AgriInsurance and AgriStability are demand-driven programs that only respond when specific criteria are met.  CCGA wants to ensure that moving forward the suite of BRM programs can respond at an appropriate level to help maintain farm viability.  

  • AgriInvest is a self-directed savings account that producers can access to respond to small financial declines or if they want to invest in their farms.

  • AgriRecovery is an assessment framework that governments use to determine the potential of the existing programs’ ability to respond to non-recurring disaster events.     

There are also some private insurance providers that may be available in your area.  It would be worth comparing the coverage and premiums.   

Did you know?

Here are the five-year averages for the following (2019-2023):

  • Crop insurance has paid out an average of $3.12 Billion  

  • AgriStability payments have averaged nearly $400 Million  

  • AgriInvest withdrawals have averaged $272 Million  

  • The BRM suite has averaged payments of nearly $3.8 Billion    

  • Gross payments by privately funded programs such as hail insurance and Global Ag Risk totaled nearly $500 million.      

Statistics Canada. Table 32-10-0106-01  Direct payments to agriculture producers (x 1,000)  https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3210010601    

Model Farms

In 2019, CCGA partnered with MNP to develop a prairie-average model farm to provide research and data to guide CCGA’s recommendations on improving BRM programs. Since then, model farms for Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta have been developed along with an average prairie model farm. 

These model farms allow CCGA to do specific analyses regarding changes or proposed changes to BRM programs. They also enhance CCGA’s understanding of the makeup of canola farms, including income and expenses and how production changes impact farmers’ bottom lines.