The growing season is still young, but it looks set to be better than last year, which was a disaster, especially for vegetables and cereals.
An initial assessment by Financière agricole covering the first half of 2024 shows a good start for most agricultural activities. As of July 2, Financière agricole’s crop insurance program had received 1,218 notices of damage, compared to 2,485 during the same period last year.
However, we must be careful not to be too optimistic about the future, according to Annie Flamand, director of insurance program integration at Financière agricole.
“Last year, too, we were saying that things were looking pretty good, but it was at this time of year that the rains really started and we started to have problems in different crops,” she recalled in an interview with The Press.
Market gardeners were particularly affected in 2023 by heavy rains that ruined part of their crops, while hay crops in the Abitibi region were affected by a historic drought. As a result, Financière agricole paid out nearly $200 million in compensation to insured producers in 2023, a record since the program was created in 1967.
Despite these record compensations, producers took to the streets in large numbers to denounce insurance programs deemed insufficient to cover their losses and poorly adapted to new climate realities.
Their demands were heard and the Minister of Agriculture, André Lamontagne, promised a review of the crop insurance program.
Bees affected
Since the beginning of the year, the crop insurance program has paid out $5 million in compensation, compared to $16 million at the same time last year. It was the problematic maple syrup harvest that took up $15 million of last year’s $16 million in compensation, says Annie Flamand.
This year, the maple syrup harvest was excellent, both in quantity and quality, reports Financière agricole, and the production period was longer than normal.
In 2024, it was bee mortality that was higher than normal. Temperature variations and the ravages of varroa, a small parasite that attacks these insects, were disastrous for bees. Some 3.7 million of the 5 million in compensation paid since the beginning of the year went to beekeepers.
“It’s a big year of mortality for bees, as was the case in 2022,” says the director.
Apple trees and berry plantations have survived the relatively mild winter well. Most regions of Quebec have escaped the extreme cold. For most other crops, vegetables and grains, the weather will have the final say.
Every two weeks, La Financière agricole publishes a status report on the situation in the fields, between the months of May and October.
Crop insurance is one of the two main agricultural support programs, the other being the Agricultural Income Insurance Program, which mainly covers animal production and receives the lion’s share of the compensation paid by the Financière agricole.
Last year, total compensation paid under the various support programs reached $1 billion, double the average total over the past 10 years. These programs are financed partly by taxpayers and partly by premiums paid by insured producers.