The agricultural season is confirmed to be one of the worst in recent history. Damage notices to the Financière agricole du Québec (FADQ) have more than doubled compared to last year. Their number has also increased by 82% compared to the average of the last decade and the compensation paid far exceeds previous averages.
The most recent data released Friday indicate that as of last Tuesday, agricultural producers had submitted 6,119 notices of damage to the Financière to obtain compensation. Crops protected by crop insurance include grains, vegetables, beekeeping, corn, hay, berries, apples, potatoes, maple syrup and honey.
In total, the Financière has already paid $49.6 million to insured farmers, which far exceeds the full sum for 2022, a particularly lenient year. The amount also far exceeds the average of the last five years at the same date, i.e. nearly $21 million.
“It’s clearly a terrible year and we’re asking for special measures to deal with it,” declared Charles-Félix Ross, general director of the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA) in an interview with The duty. No plant sector has been spared, he relates and “several companies are heavily affected financially”, insists this agroeconomist.
It must be said that in addition to difficult weather conditions, producers are subject to inflationary pressure, with the price of inputs such as fertilizer, fuel, seeds and animal feed increasing. “When you don’t have a harvest, you don’t have money to repay your line of credit taken out in the spring” to start the season, explains Mr. Ross.
The FADQ already said in July that it was “very aware of the difficulties caused by heavy precipitation” in most regions of Quebec. Excess rain affected the quantity and quality of crops harvested in the majority of regions, this body wrote on Friday.
Fungal diseases continue to spread in crops, the majority of which are still in the harvest period, the Financière also notes in its report. Intensive cultivation regions received more rain than the average of the last 24 years, with this excess rising to more than two additional meters in Estrie, Centre-du-Québec and Gaspésie.
The intensity of the precipitation has at times laid certain crops on the ground, caused root vegetables to rot or complicated operations in the fields because of tractors which sank, producers reported in August.
Climatic vagaries have obviously not affected all crops in the same way. In Abitibi-Témiscamingue, it was rather the lack of rain which reduced the yield of the first hay cut as well as the growth of pastures.
Facing the climate future
A special working group was set up in mid-August in response to the difficult weather conditions experienced by the horticultural sector, stemming from the Financière’s crop status monitoring committee which already existed. In particular, it must suggest ways of improving the Crop Insurance Program (ASREC).
The UPA is calling for “rethinking the sharing of risks between the State and producers”, recalls Mr. Ross on the line. Crop insurance programs are 40% funded by producers and have deductibles before receiving a certain amount. Farmers therefore assume a significant part of the bill and fear seeing their premiums increase in the coming years. The UPA suggests reviewing the share of each insurance contributor.
“The programs are not adapted. […] When we fall into extreme losses, the government should assume more,” suggests the director general.
One of the most affected sectors this year is the maple industry. Maple syrup production was “lean” in 2023, reaching 124 million pounds. In total, 1,315 notices of damage were submitted and $29.4 million paid in compensation for this category alone.
“Yes it was a short season, but by definition, [la production] fluctuates over the years,” concedes Joël Vaudeville, spokesperson for the Producteurs et producerrices acéricoles du Québec (PPAQ).
The amounts paid by the Financière nevertheless satisfy the maple producers, but they wish to set up another mechanism: a form of “catastrophe insurance” by evaluating in particular the value of a maple tree which dies and which therefore stops producing.
It takes 50 years for a maple tree to become mature enough to produce a quantity of maple sap useful for the production of maple syrup. “Natural disasters and extreme weather phenomena are becoming more and more intense and recurrent because of climate change,” explains Mr. Vaudeville. It is therefore important to find a way to compensate a lost maple tree, “lying down” for example following violent winds or damaged by ice like last spring.