2019-2020 Departmental Results Report - Details on transfer payment programs of $5 million or more

The objective of the Agricultural Clean Technology Program is to promote sustainable growth in Canada's agriculture and agri-food sector while helping drive the change required to achieve a low carbon economy, through investments in the areas of precision agriculture and agri-based bioproducts.

The program provides non-repayable contributions to provincial and territorial governments to support activities along the innovation continuum - from research and development to commercialization, demonstration and adoption – with the aim of accelerating and contributing to the advancement and adoption of clean technologies in Canadian agriculture.

AgriRecovery is a disaster relief framework that allows governments to work efficiently together to assess the impacts of disasters on Canadian producers and respond when needed with targeted, disaster-specific initiatives. Initiatives developed under the program are intended to help producers beyond the support available through existing programming to cover the extraordinary costs necessary to recover from a disaster event and resume business operations as quickly as possible.

For more information, visit the Federal AgriRecovery website.

The 2017 Canada-British Columbia Wildfire Recovery Initiative, which was implemented in 2017-18, was completed in 2019-20.

AgriRecovery payments played an important role in the recovery of all affected producers, which exceeded the target of 70%. This initiative met and exceeded the required performance criteria by providing timely, targeted support to assist producers to recover from wild fires that occurred in British Columbia in the summer of 2017.

In 2019-20, governments also continued the delivery of the 2018-19 Canada-British Columbia Wildfires Recovery Initiative. Performance data is not yet available for this initiative, which continues to provide assistance to producers affected by the 2018 wildfires.

Also in 2019-20, governments implemented the 2018 Canada-British Columbia Bovine Tuberculosis Initiative and the 2018 Canada-Prince Edward Island Fall Harvest Recovery Initiative. These initiatives are providing assistance to producers in British Columbia impacted by an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis, and producers of potatoes and other vegetable crops in Prince Edward Island affected by extraordinary rainfall and cold temperatures during the 2018 harvest.

The process for AgriRecovery begins when one or more provincial/territorial government(s) requests an assessment of a disaster event in writing. Once the request has been made, a joint federal and provincial/territorial task team conducts an AgriRecovery assessment. As needed, the task team consults with affected producers, industry representatives and other department/agency representatives (for example, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency). The assessment looks at the impacts of the event on producers, the ability for them to recover quickly and the costs associated with those recovery activities as well as how existing programs will respond.

Generic information on the AgriRecovery Framework is available on Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's website while the specifics on the initiatives are usually available on provincial/territorial governments' websites.

The AgriInnovate program accelerates the commercialization and adoption of innovative products and processes in the agricultural sector to increase sector competitiveness and sustainability. The program is intended to address both the financing gap present between moving agricultural, agri-food and agri-based research to commercialization, and to assist industry in mitigating the inherent risk in scaling-up products and processes.

The program provides repayable contributions to recipients.

In 2019-20, the AgriInnovate program provided funding to a total of 13 participating firms, eight of which were approved in 2019-20.

Sufficient data is not yet available to report against the program's other indicators, as recipient performance reporting begins after project completion to ensure that the full benefits of the program can be tracked.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada communications efforts may include mail outs, news conferences or news releases.

Program clients are also being engaged through email, site visits, web presence, videoconferences, teleconferences or other outreach and project assessment and monitoring.

Additional efforts include broader industry engagement, including outreach to the series of Value Chain Roundtables, the Innovation and CleanTech Hub and other related industry associations.

AgriInsurance provides Canadian producers with insurance coverage to reduce the economic impacts of production losses caused by adverse weather, crop diseases and other specified perils. AgriInsurance is a program that uses premiums to fund liabilities. Premiums are shared between governments and producers to ensure affordable coverage to producers, while administration costs are covered solely by governments. The commodities covered vary by province and continue to expand to cover new agricultural products.

For more information, visit the following websites:

• Federal AgriInsurance
• AgriInsurance in British Columbia
• AgriInsurance in Alberta
• AgriInsurance in Saskatchewan
• AgriInsurance in Manitoba
• AgriInsurance in Ontario
• AgriInsurance in Québec
• AgriInsurance in New Brunswick
• AgriInsurance in Nova Scotia
• AgriInsurance in Prince Edward Island

There is a two year lag in reporting for the AgriInsurance program due to the time required to compile the information.

• The value of agricultural products eligible for insurance as a percentage of the value of all agricultural products produced (except livestock) was 86% in 2017-18. The target of 85% for this indicator was met.
• The value of insured crop production as a percentage of the total value of all agricultural products eligible for insurance (excluding forage, pasture and livestock production) was 69% in 2017-18 which was down from 73% in 2016-17. This year's result remains below the overall target of 75% established for this indicator however, the value of insured forage crops was 22% which was higher than the 18% in 2016-17 and above the expected level of 20%. This is the first time that the target for forage crops has been met and could be attributed, in part, to changes to the guidelines for forage programs that were introduced a few years prior.

In order to address industry feedback and increase program participation, governments are responding to meet specific industry needs by working towards putting forward program changes.

AgriInvest encourages Canadian producers to set money aside which they can draw upon for any reason including to recover from income declines or to make investments to reduce on-farm risks. Under the program, governments provide matching contributions to producers who make annual deposits to an AgriInvest savings account.

For more information, visit the following websites:

• Federal AgriInvest (except Québec)
• AgriInvest in Québec (La Financière agricole du Québec)

The following results are based on the 2017 program year, the latest year for which application processing is complete and data is available:

• 78% of producers participated in AgriInvest in 2017, above the target of 75%, and at the same level as 2016.

Business Risk Management programs are generally marketed to producers as a package. In advance of key program deadlines, direct mail and advertising are used by administrators to raise program awareness, encourage enrolment and compliance with participation requirements (for example, meeting key deadlines). The program website, My Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Account, toll-free number, and media relations will support the promotional campaigns. The My Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Account allows producers to get up to date information on-line for their AgriInvest Account. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada works with provinces and with third party delivery agencies to ensure a coordinated communications approach and to ensure federal identity on cost-shared programs.

The Department continues to build on the program websites and My Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Account as key sources of program information and on options for communicating information to program clients in order to support the Department's mandate to strengthen program service and delivery. Communication activities comply with the Official Languages Act requirements. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada also works with the National Program Advisory Committee to engage its producers.

AgriRisk aims to increase the ability of Canadian producers to address risk by supporting research and development as well as the implementation and administration of new risk management tools for use in the agriculture sector. Under the program, governments provide financial assistance to facilitate the development and adoption of risk management tools, including insurance-based products.

For more information, visit: AgriRisk Initiatives

In 2019-20, 57% of available program funds were committed under grants and contribution agreements. The remaining funds were transferred to other programs experiencing high demand.

It is too early to determine the percentage of Research and Development projects that result in either an Administrative Capacity Building project or the implementation of a new tool being available to producers to manage business risks, as this performance information is collected upon project completion.

Information on the AgriRisk Initiatives program, as well as the eligibility criteria and application process, is available on Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's website. The program website, toll-free number, and media relations supports the promotional campaigns.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada works with provinces to ensure a coordinated communications approach and to ensure federal identity on cost-shared programs.

The Department continues to build on the program websites as a key source of program information and on options for communicating information to program clients in order to support the Department's mandate to strengthen program service and delivery. Communication activities comply with the Official Languages Act requirements. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada also works with the National Program Advisory Committee to engage its producers.

The AgriScience program accelerates the pace of innovation in the sector by supporting industry-led research and development to increase market opportunities in the agriculture, agri-food and agri-based products sector.

The program is delivered through two types of initiatives: the AgriScience – Clusters Component (Clusters) and the AgriScience – Projects Component (Projects).

Clusters are national in scope and bring together scientific expertise from industry, academia and government to collaborate to address multiple industry priorities of a specific commodity (such as wheat, beef, et cetera) or cross-cutting issues (for example, bioproducts, food processing).

Projects may be individually led research projects or a small group of projects that are national, regional or local in scope.

In 2019-20, the AgriScience program provided funding to 19 clusters and 46 projects, 14 of which were approved this year. Of the projects approved in 2019-20, 50% involve collaboration on Research and Development.

Also in 2019-20, 286 papers were published in peer-review journals, bringing the program's cumulative total to 454. In addition, 46 new technologies (products, practices, processes, and systems) were utilized under funded activities, bringing the cumulative total to 68.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada communications efforts may include mail outs, news conferences or news releases.

Program clients are engaged through email, site visits, web presence or other outreach, and through project assessment and monitoring. Recipients of AgriScience cluster funding also participate in an annual meeting with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada representatives.

Additional efforts include broader industry engagement, including outreach to the series of Value Chain Roundtables, companies and industry associations.

AgriStability is intended to help Canadian producers to manage financial risks that threaten the viability of their farm by helping them protect their farm operations against large declines in farm income. Under the program, governments provide assistance when a producer's margin falls below seventy percent of their historical reference margin. All producers who derive income from the primary production of agricultural commodities are eligible to participate in the program.

For more information, visit the following websites:

• Federal AgriStability
• AgriStability in British Columbia
• AgriStability in Alberta
• AgriStability in Saskatchewan
• AgriStability in Ontario
• AgriStability in Quebec
• AgriStability in Prince Edward Island

The following results are based on the 2017 program year, the latest year for which application processing is complete and data is available. There is a two year lag in reporting due to the time needed to complete the processing of all of the producer applications for a given year and to compile the data.

Overall 30% of producers participated in AgriStability which is below the target of 50%, a 1% decline from 2016.

Responding to producer concerns, governments introduced changes to AgriStability under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership that came into effect for the 2018 program year.

These changes reduced the impact of the reference margin limit, providing more equitable levels of support, and lowered the administrative burden on producers enrolling in the program for the first time. In December 2019, Ministers agreed to make additional amendments to the program starting in 2020 program year, including a change to the treatment of private insurance and a pilot in select jurisdictions to simplify the application process by allowing producers to use tax information. Officials continue work on the development of options to make the program more effective, agile, timely, and equitable for producers. In particular, officials will evaluate the impact of changes to the reference margin limit.

Business Risk Management programs are generally marketed to producers as a package. In advance of key program deadlines, direct mail and advertising are used by administrators to raise program awareness, encourage enrolment and compliance with participation requirements (for example, meeting key deadlines). The program website, toll-free number, and media relations will support the promotional campaigns.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada works with provinces and with third party delivery agencies to ensure a coordinated communications approach and to ensure federal identity on cost-shared programs.

The Department continues to build on the program websites as a key source of program information and on options for communicating information to program clients in order to support the Department's mandate to strengthen program service and delivery. Communication activities comply with the Official Languages Act requirements. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada also works with the National Program Advisory Committee to engage its producers.

(Note: the following findings are from the evaluation completed on the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation program in 2019-20, prior to the program changing to the Canadian Agricultural Strategic Priorities program.)

The evaluation concluded that there is a continued need for the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP) to enable the agriculture, agri-food, and agri-based sector to adapt and remain competitive in the evolving global marketplace, as the program facilitates responsiveness to industry priorities and needs. CAAP aligns with other AAFC programming and is uniquely positioned to support adaptation projects that other programs cannot, increasing the sector's ability to respond to new or emerging issues.

Although the program experienced lower than expected uptake due to changes to the program (program scope, eligibility, funding ratio, and delivery model), overly broad objectives, and limited program promotion, funded projects generated some positive results. Examples include increased collaboration and information sharing, and the development of tools, strategies, products, and processes to address critical needs, investigate solutions, and seize new opportunities.

Program management explored alternate design and delivery options, including the development of refined program priorities, which are reflected in the Canadian Agricultural Strategic Priorities program and are expected to improve uptake.

The Dairy Programs consist of the Dairy Farm Investment Program and the Dairy Processing Investment Fund, which are designed to encourage investment by dairy farmers and dairy processors to improve productivity and competitiveness.

The Dairy Farm Investment Program (2017–18 to 2021–22) supports dairy farmers to modernize their operations and improve their productivity through activities such as the adoption of robotic milkers, automated feeding systems, herd management tools, or other equipment upgrades.

The Dairy Processing Investment Fund (2017–18 to 2020–21) supports dairy processors as they modernize their facilities and conduct near-market activities to introduce new and improved products that will compete with expected imports. The program supports access to technical expertise and the purchase of new equipment in order to expand processing capacity and diversify product lines to capture new market opportunities.

In 2019-20, the Dairy Farm Investment Program approved 1,424 projects, bringing the program's cumulative total of approved projects to 3,327. Of these, 2127 (cumulative total representing 2018-19 and 2019-20) are now complete. The production cost savings will be reported as more projects are completed.

Under the Dairy Processing Investment Fund, 15 facilities and not for profits applied for and received funding in 2019-20, bringing the program's cumulative total of funded facilities to 79. This exceeds the program's initial target of 51 because in the later years of the Program, projects were approved for smaller amounts of funding than planned at the outset, to ensure a larger distribution of funds across processing firms.

As of 2019-20, there is insufficient data to report on the adoption of technologies new to the sector and the increase in volume of industrial or fluid milk and milk components used in production as results will not be reported until projects reach completion.

Dairy Farm Investment Program
National consultations were held with stakeholders in advance of the Government announcing the launch of the second round of the Dairy Farm Investment Program in January 2019.

Dairy Processing Investment Fund
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada communications efforts include mail outs, news conferences or news releases. The program administration continually meets with the industry to improve awareness and understanding of the program.

Program clients are also being engaged through email, site visits, web presence or other outreach and project assessment and monitoring.

• (1) Help Canadian Communities Access Healthy Food;
• (2) Make Canadian Food the Top Choice at Home and Abroad;
• (3) Support Food Security in Northern and Indigenous Communities; and,
• (4) Reduce Food Waste

The Food Policy Initiatives were announced in 2019-20, and efforts were undertaken to advance work in each of the four action areas, including collaboration with other federal government departments.

The Local Food Infrastructure Fund was also launched this year. Results for the Local Food Infrastructure Fund's first launch are available: in its first year, 285 infrastructure investments were made

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada communication efforts may include mail outs, news conferences or news releases. Program clients may also be engaged through email, site visits, web presence, videoconferences, teleconferences or other outreach and project assessment and monitoring.

Additional efforts include broader industry engagement, including outreach to federal, provincial and territorial counterparts and various food-related associations across the country.

In 2019–20, the Department, in partnership with lending institutions, continued to support the establishment, improvement and development of farms across Canada through the provision of Canadian Agricultural Loans Act loans.

The performance indicators and results:

• Dollar value of registered loans awarded by lending institutions during the fiscal year: $73.1 million (target: $94.0 million);
• Number of loans made to beginning farmers: 195 (target: 261);
• Defaulted loans as a percentage of the value of total loans at the end of the year: 1.08% (target: less than 1%); and

• Percentage of loans received from lenders within 15 business days is registered: 100% (target: 80%).

The primary marketing channel for the Canadian Agricultural Loans Act program is through the financial institutions who deliver the program. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada supports these efforts in a variety of ways to encourage awareness and uptake, including: social media campaigns (for example, Facebook, Twitter), direct mail to producers, print advertising in farm/lender publications, as well as print on demand fact sheets for the agricultural lenders which help maintain common messaging and brand identity.

Where there is an opportunity, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada officials attend selected industry trade shows/annual general meetings to communicate the benefits of the program directly to producers and to learn and gather feedback from producers on the program.

Under the Loan Guarantee Programs, the federal government provides financial guarantees to producers, marketing agencies and agricultural co-operatives. The Advance Payments Program is a loan guarantee program which provides producers with access to credit through cash advances based on the value of their agricultural products. This enables producers to meet financial obligations and allows them to make the decision to sell agricultural products based on market conditions rather than the need for cash flow.

The Price Pooling Program provides cooperative marketing agencies with a price guarantee on eligible products as a form of security against unanticipated declines in the market price for their products. This helps them to secure financing to issue initial payments to their producer members as they deliver product to the cooperative marketing pools.

Advance Payments Program

In 2019–20, the Department, through the Advance Payments Program and in partnership with 34 third-party administrators, continued to provide eligible agricultural producers with access to timely, low cost loans to help them with their cash-flow needs over their production periods and provide them with additional flexibility to find the best markets for their agricultural products.

The performance indicators and results:

• Number of producers receiving Advance Payments Program advances per production period: 21,802 (target: 21,323);
• Dollar value of Advance Payments Program advances issued per production period: $3.03 billion (minimum target: $1.98 billion);
• Advance Payments Program defaults as a percentage of total Advance Payments Program advances taken per production period (2018*): 1.39% to date (October 2020), target: no higher than 4.40%); and
• Default claims under the guarantee as a percentage of total Advance Payments Program advances taken per production period (2016**): 1.09% (target: no higher than 1.50%).

*Note: Producers have until the end of their Advance Payments Program Production Periods to fully repay their advances. Due to the length of these Production Periods, it is not yet possible to report on defaults for the 2019 Program Year. The default results reported above are for advances during the 2018 Program Year. This value is the current default percentage as of October 2020. It is not the final default percentage due to a 60 day default reporting period following the end of the production period (September 30, 2020) and several ongoing Stays of default for the 2018 Program Year. An updated default percent for the 2018 program year will be reported in AAFC's 2020-21 DRR.

**Note: Due to the timeframe APP administrators have to recover APP advances, including defaults, from producers (typically three to four years), the value above is for default claims (honoured advances) for the 2016 Program Year.

Price Pooling Program

• For 2019–20, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada entered into two Price Pooling Program agreements with marketing agencies for total guarantees valued at $37.7 million. Participating marketing agencies did not make any claims to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada against the price guarantee during the program year.
• Performance indicator and Target: Guarantee price provided through the Price Pooling Program as a percentage of average market price: 52.20% (target: less than or equal to 65%).

• Federal, Provincial and Territorial Cost-shared Markets and Trade
• Federal, Provincial and Territorial Cost-shared Science, Research, Innovation and Environment
• Federal, Provincial and Territorial Cost-Shared Assurance

Federal, Provincial and Territorial Cost-shared Markets and Trade:
Under Federal, Provincial and Territorial Cost-shared Markets and Trade, transfer payments are provided to the provinces and territories for programming to assist the Canadian agricultural sector in creating market-based opportunities for individual farms and firms, and providing industry with the knowledge and tools to compete at home and abroad. Specific provincial and/or territorial programs support the sector in identifying new domestic and global opportunities that enhance competitiveness and prosperity.

Federal, Provincial and Territorial Cost-shared Science, Research, Innovation and Environment:
Under Federal, Provincial and Territorial Cost-shared Science, Research, Innovation and Environment, transfer payments are provided to the provinces and territories for programming to accelerate the pace of innovation in the Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector. A key focus of such innovation is the research, development and commercialization of products, practices, processes and systems that enhance the productivity, competitiveness, economic growth and adaptability to environment and climate change in the sector.

Federal, Provincial and Territorial Cost-Shared Assurance:
Under Federal, Provincial and Territorial Cost-shared Assurance, transfer payments are provided to the provinces and territories for agricultural assurance programming to develop tools and support proactive mitigation activities. Specific provincial or territorial programs support the sector in its endeavors to prevent and control risks to the animal and plant resource base, provide safe food, and meet new market demands for assurance.

In 2019-20, Federal, Provincial and Territorial Cost-Shared Programs achieved the following results:

Markets and Trade

• Number of clients reporting that market information and intelligence meets needs for awareness and knowledge of market opportunities: this new indicator will be measured through a Client Impact Survey currently in development and is tentatively planned to be distributed in Fall 2021. The results of the Survey will set the baseline for subsequent performance measures.

Science, Research, Innovation and Environment

• Number of new technologies (products, practices, processes and systems) that attain Intellectual Property protection: 97, exceeding the five-year Canadian Agricultural Partnership target of 72. Reporting is one year behind (results for 2018-19 will be reported in 2019-20) as provinces and territories are only required to report on their programs by August 31 of the following fiscal year as per the bilateral agreements.

Assurance

• Number of risk management/assurance projects completed on-farm: 1,083, exceeding the annual target, and comprising 19% of the total five-year Canadian Agricultural Partnership target in the first year alone. Reporting will be a year behind (results for 2018-19 will be reported in 2019-20) as provinces and territories are only required to report on their programs by August 31 of the following fiscal year as per the bilateral agreements.
• Number of risk management/assurance projects completed at processing facilities: 65. After the first year of reporting, the five-year framework target is currently at 7% achieved for this performance measurement indicator, which is lower than expected. This is mainly due to delays in programs launching as this was the first year of the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. Reporting will be a year behind (results for 2018-19 will be reported in 2019-20) as provinces and territories are only required to report on their programs by August 31 of the following fiscal year as per the bilateral agreements.