When you enrol in Production Insurance, you are guaranteed a level of production based on either your contracted tonnage or your yield history – whichever is less – and the type of coverage you choose. A claim may be paid if an insured peril causes your yield to fall below your guaranteed production.
Production Insurance covers you for losses due to adverse weather, disease, pests, wildlife, or other uncontrollable natural perils, except for perils excluded in the
Contract of Insurance – General Terms and the
Commodity-Specific Terms: Processing Vegetables – Average Farm Yield on the Publications page.
Production Insurance coverage for processing vegetable crops applies only during the period from seeding or planting until harvest. Loss or damage due to storage conditions is not insured. If your farm management practices contribute to a production loss, you may lose some or all of your insurance coverage.
Available coverage
Production loss coverage
This coverage provides a single guaranteed production for each crop on the total number of acres you plant.
Unseeded acreage coverage
A claim may be paid under unseeded acreage coverage if an insured peril other than drought prevents you and a number of other growers in the same area from planting or seeding all or part of your acreage by the planting deadline.
Unseeded acreage payment = [claim price × 1/3 AFY × (total unseeded acreage – 3 acre deductible)] – [$1 × total unseeded acreage]
Your unseeded acreage claim is based on your current year contract tonnage.
Replant coverage
A claim may be paid under replant coverage if you
need to replant some or all acres of your crop due to
damage caused by
an insured peril. Payments may be made whether you replant the same crop or a different crop. Replanting must be completed by the planting deadline.
For processing tomatoes, a claim payment may be made if an insured peril causes you to replant
more than eight per cent of your original crop
or
if
damage occurs to at least one contiguous acre.
Replant coverage claims cover the cost of transplants exceeding eight per cent of your
original crop, in addition to labour and tillage costs where applicable. Your total replant claim payment takes into consideration the following, where
transplant cost + labour cost + tillage cost = total replant claim.
Transplants
Calculated using the lesser of:
-
Transplant cost = processor contract maximum transplant cost per 1000 plants × qualifying plants in excess of 8%
-
Transplant cost = qualifying plants in excess of 8% / customer replanting rate per acre × Agricorp's maximum transplant claim payment per acre, based on 14,000 plants per acre
Labour
Calculated as:
Labour cost = number of plants replanted ÷ customer replanting rate per acre × Agricorp's labour rate per acre
Tillage
Calculated as:
Tillage cost = Number of acres tilled × Agricorp's tillage rate per acre
Payments for replant coverage are based on the crop
that
was originally planted and insured. The amount is based on a maximum per-acre rate that Agricorp sets annually for each crop.
Replant payment = damaged acres × replant value/acre*
*If your actual seed costs are less than the Agricorp maximum, the lower value is paid.
Minimum eligible acres
To qualify for a claim payment under replant coverage, the minimum acreage requirement is eight per cent of your original acreage or one contiguous acre, whichever is less.
For processing tomatoes, a claim payment may be made if a damaged crop can't be replanted as processing tomatoes, but can be replanted with another commodity by the planting deadline for that commodity.
Tomato salvage benefit
This benefit provides compensation for tomato crops affected by blossom end rot or hail damage. This benefit offsets the costs associated with removing infected fruit during harvest. To qualify for this benefit, a minimum of three contiguous acres must be damaged, with injury to at least 10 per cent of the crop in the damaged area.
For more information, see the
Tomato Salvage Benefit feature sheet on the Publications page.
Calculating your coverage and claims
Your coverage depends on:
- Average farm yield (AFY)
- Coverage level
- Guaranteed production
- Claim price (for some processing crops only)
Average farm yield (AFY)
An AFY is calculated and used as a benchmark to determine if your actual production is below average. If you are contracted to more than one processor, you will have a separate AFY for each processor.
AFY for existing plan participants
Your AFY is calculated using the most recent five years of your actual reported yields. For any year you did not grow, an underwritten value is used.
To ensure that your AFY reflects changes in technology over time, your historical tomato yields are multiplied by an adjustment factor. This adjustment factor is calculated each year.
AFY for new plan participants
Each crop is assigned an underwritten five-year AFY that is based on a variety of factors, such as township averages and soil type.
Each year that you participate in the plan, your actual yield replaces an underwritten yield until your AFY is composed entirely of your own actual yields.
Yield buffering
Unusually high and low yields are adjusted (buffered) to stabilize and lessen the impact of extreme yields on your AFY.
- If your actual yield is above the upper threshold (130 per cent of your AFY), the yield is buffered two-thirds of the way down to the upper threshold.
- If your actual yield is below the lower threshold (70 per cent of your AFY), the yield is buffered two-thirds of the way up to the lower threshold.
Plug-in values and underwritten yields are not buffered.
Coverage level
When you apply or renew each year, you choose one coverage level for each crop. It determines your guaranteed production. There are different coverage levels depending on the type of coverage you choose.
Guaranteed production
If an insured peril causes your actual yield to fall below your guaranteed production, a production claim may be paid on the difference.
The guaranteed production is the lesser of:
- The AFY (as determined by Agricorp) multiplied by your selected coverage level, or
- The total tonnage specified in the contract between you and your processor
If damage is reported by the replanting deadline, and Agricorp agrees that the crop should be replanted but cannot be replanted due to an insured peril, the insurance coverage or your guaranteed production is reduced by half.
Claim price
- Used to calculate any potential claim under production loss coverage.
- Set by Agricorp.
- Based on crop-specific information from the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers (OPVG).
For tomatoes, the claim price is based on 90% of the current year's estimated blend price by processor. Each processor provides their estimated blend price information to the OPVG, who then provides it to Agricorp. The estimated blend price is calculated using:
- Current year's contract price of juice, whole peel, paste, and bulk paste
- Previous year's end-use percentage of juice, whole peel, paste, or bulk paste
- Current year's productivity factor
