2024 AgriStability Program - Coverage Notice Intended Productive Capacity Information Guide

Before you start

Use this guide to complete the AgriStability Coverage Notice Intended Productive Capacity Information form and receive a coverage notice.

Review this guide to make sure you fill out your form correctly. Providing correct information on your form helps us to calculate your coverage notice accurately.

Coverage notice

The coverage notice will provide you with your estimated reference margin and support level for the 2024 program year. We'll calculate your estimated reference margin using the same method of accounting you file to tax (cash or accrual).

The coverage notice is intended to help you better determine if you'll qualify for an AgriStability benefit and help you decide if you should provide the necessary program year supplementary information. If you believe you would not qualify for a benefit, you may choose not to file a final application. It's important to remember the coverage notice is an estimate of your reference margin and support level. Therefore, the Administration won't be responsible if you decide not to apply for a final AgriStability benefit.

For partnerships, each member of the partnership can decide if they want to receive a coverage notice.

For combined operations, all members of the whole farm must report to tax using the same method of accounting and complete the 2024 AgriStability Tax-Aligned Reference Margin Consent form and 2024 AgriStability Intended Productive Capacity Information form to receive a coverage notice.

For cash tax filers, the default method for calculating structural change will be the additive method. For accrual tax filers, the ratio method will remain the default for calculating structural change.

Receive a 2024 AgriStability Coverage Notice in 2 easy steps

Step 1: Complete the 2024 AgriStability Coverage Notice Intended Productive Capacity Information Form

Confidential information and participant consent

The information you submit on the Intended Productive Capacity Information Form is collected under the authority of section 4 of the Farm Income Protection Act and will be used for the purpose of calculating a Coverage Notice. Your Coverage Notice will show your estimated reference margin and support level for the current program year.

Personal information will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Act. Details of the collection, use, disclosure, and retention of personal information are described in the Personal Information Bank, the Net Income Stabilization Account (NISA), AAFC PPU 183.

By submitting the form, you:

• are requesting to receive a coverage notice
• understand that the coverage notice only provides an estimate of your reference margin and support level and the reference margin used to calculate your final benefit may be different from the estimated reference margin on your coverage notice
• understand you must complete and file a final 2024 AgriStability and AgriInvest form by the final filing deadline if you are applying for benefits
• understand you must file a 2024 income tax return reporting farming income (loss) by the final filing deadline (except Status Indians and Band farms farming on a reserve in Canada who are exempt from filing an income tax return)
• certify that the information provided is complete and correct
• consent to the use and disclosure of the information contained in this form to officials from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the provincial/territorial department responsible for agriculture for:
  • administering your participation in AgriStability
  • verifying the information submitted
  • for purposes of audit, analysis, and evaluation
• understand and agree that the information you submit may be combined with information of other participants to determine your coverage notice
• consent to the disclosure of information pertaining to you and your form to the other participants being combined with your information

Mail your completed forms to us at the address below, or fax us, by March 31, 2025.

AgriStability Administration
PO Box 3200
Winnipeg MB R3C 5R7

Fax (toll-free): 1-877-949-4885

Step 2: View your coverage notice in your online My AAFC Account

Sign in or sign up to access your My AAFC Account and view your coverage notice.

If you cannot access your coverage notice with My AAFC Account, call us at 1-877-949-4885 and we'll send it to you.

Important deadlines

April 30, 2024

• deadline to enrol for the 2024 program year
• non-penalty deadline to pay your 2024 AgriStability fee (unless your Enrolment Notice shows a different date)

December 31, 2024

• final deadline to pay your 2024 AgriStability fee with a 20% penalty (unless your Enrolment Notice shows a different date)

March 31, 2025

• deadline to submit a completed 2024 AgriStability Tax-Aligned Reference Margin Consent form
• deadline to submit a completed 2024 Coverage Notice Intended Productive Capacity Information form

Where to send your completed forms

Send your completed forms to us by mail, fax or My AAFC Account.

Completing your Intended Productive Capacity Information Form

Participant identification

Enter your first and last name, or business name (if applicable). Enter your email address, and your Participant identification number (PIN).

Provide your business tax number if you have been assigned one. Corporations must also provide the RC reference number.

Language of preference

Enter your language of preference.

Method of accounting

Use the same method of reporting (cash or accrual) for AgriStability as you use for income tax.

Enter either:

• code 1 for accrual method
• code 2 for cash method

Main farmstead location

Enter the province/territory where all or the majority of your gross farming income was earned over the previous 5 years.

You can find a list of provincial/territorial jurisdictions (Rural Municipalities, Counties, Districts, etc.) in the Regional code list.

Partnership information (if applicable)

Complete this section if you are a partner in a partnership. Enter your percentage share of the partnership.

Enter the PIN, name and percentage share for each partner involved in the partnership.

2024 Intended productive capacity

Operation Number (#)

If you have more than one farming operation:

• complete a form for each operation
• number each operation
• send all forms together

Fiscal period

Enter the year, month and day for the beginning and end of your farm's taxation year. Your farm's 2024 fiscal period must end in the 2024 tax year.

2024 Crop - intended productive capacity

How to complete the columns

Code and crop description

Use the Productive capacity code list to report all crops by code and description that you:

• produced or expected to produce
• planned to produce but could not because your land was too wet or too dry to seed

If your crop is not listed, leave the code blank and provide a detailed crop description.

Acres

Report the number of acres you produced or expect to produce in the fiscal year.

For commodities not measured by acres, use the standard unit of measurement for that commodity.

Crop share

If you're a tenant in a crop share, or a landlord in a joint venture crop share, report only your share of the acres.

Multi-stage crops

If you grew or plan to grow a multi-stage crop that takes more than one year to reach full production, use the code that reflects the stage of production for the commodity.

Multi stage crops include:

• Christmas trees
• echinacea
• ginseng
• grapes
• highbush blueberries
• sod

In New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, multi-stage crops also include:

• cranberries
• lowbush blueberries

Christmas trees

There are 2 types of Christmas tree operations:

• tree farms
• managed natural tree stand

Tree farms plant their seedlings in a greenhouse, garden or tree farm and maintain them until harvested.

Report your total acres of trees based on their stage of growth or expected stage of growth at the end of your fiscal period.

To report your trees, use:

• nursery codes for the seedlings you grow in your greenhouse or garden prior to transplanting to your tree farm
• code 6960 for the seedlings or trees you planted on your tree farm the first year (establishment stage)
• codes 6961, 6962, 6963 or 6964 to report your seedlings or trees based on their stage of growth or expected stage of growth

Managed natural tree stand operations select trees from existing forest and actively maintain them until harvest.

Report the acres of trees that you actively maintained as either pre-harvested (in the ground) or harvested (removed from the ground). Base the number of acres you report on 1,000 trees per acre.

Echinacea and ginseng

Report acres in the establishment stage until the year of harvest.

Grapes and highbush blueberries

Start reporting your acres in the year you plant.

Sod

Report your estimated sod acres (seeded, growing and harvested) based on their expected stage at the end of your fiscal year.

Cranberries

Report acres in the establishment stage until production starts.

Lowbush blueberries

Start reporting your acres when you have cleared the land and started nurturing the plants.

Unseedable acres

Report all acres that you planned to seed in your fiscal year but could not because your land was too wet or too dry to seed.

Other acres

Report your summerfallow, pasture or wasteland acres on the designated lines.

2024 Livestock - intended productive capacity

Enter the total units for each category of livestock that you have owned, rented or leased.

Livestock lease agreements

If you lease animals but do not take 100% of the revenue from the animal, report only your share of the agreement.

Code 104 - Cattle

Don't include calves that were born or you expect to be born in your fiscal year.

If you held your calves over to your next fiscal period, report them as feeder cattle next year if they have an appreciable gain in that fiscal period.

Codes 123 and 145 – Hogs

Report the number of sows in the breeding herd that farrowed or you expect to farrow.

Calculate the average number of breeding sows by dividing the births or expected births by your average birth rate per sow.

If your hog operation produced for only part of the year, make sure your average number of breeding sows is lower to reflect your reduced production.

Codes 105 and 106 - Feeder livestock - Cattle

Enter the number of animals you fed that had an appreciable gain in 2024 (a 90 kg/200 lb weight gain or a minimum of 60 days on feed). Group the animals fed based on either:

• the sale weight, if sold in your fiscal period
• expected sale weight, if not sold in your fiscal period

Don't include the following animals in this section:

• breeding animals
• culls
• animals that have not been weaned
• animals born within the operation in the fiscal period

Codes 125 and 124 - Feeder livestock – Hogs

Don't include the following animals on these lines:

• animals born or you expect to be born within the fiscal year
• animals previously reported in a farrow to finish operation
• animals that have not been weaned or you expect will not be weaned
• breeding animals
• culls

Code 141 (cattle) and 142 (hogs)

Report the number of animal feed days you had or expect to have. Animal feed days are the number of animals X number of days each animal was fed or will be fed. Report the total number of feed days for the year, not the number of feed days per animal.

Supply managed commodities

Report the amount of quota or contract you have or expect to have.

Ranch fur operators

Report the number of females that birthed or you expect to birth.

Other

Use the Productive capacity code list to find the codes and units needed to report your livestock not listed on the form. If the commodity is not listed, enter a description and leave the code blank.

Productive capacity code list for crops

• Use the commodity code in your province unless stated otherwise.
• Report the total acres for all crops included in a commodity basket that you produced or expect to produce.

Crop basket (excluding organic): Code 1

Description

• Barley
• Beans, dried
• Buckwheat
• Camelina
• Canary seed
• Canola
• Chickpeas
• Corn
• Fababeans
• Flax
• Greenfeed
• Hemp
• Kamut
• Lentils
• Linola
• Millet
• Mixed grain
• Mustard
• Niger seed
• Oats
• Oilseed radish
• Peas
• Quinoa
• Rapeseed
• Rye
• Safflower
• Screenings
• Silage
• Soybeans
• Spelt
• Sunflower
• Sunola
• Triticale
• Wheat

Forage basket: Code 2

Description

• Alfalfa
• Hay
• Haylage
• Swath grazing

Vegetable basket: Code 3

Description

• Asparagus
• Beans, fresh
• Beets
• Bok choi
• Broccoflower
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Cantaloupes
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Collards
• Corn, sweet
• Cucumbers
• Edible flowers
• Eggplant
• Endive
• Fiddle heads
• Garlic
• Gherkins
• Gourds
• Hazelnuts
• Horseradish
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Leeks
• Lettuce
• Melons
• Onions
• Parsnips
• Peas
• Peppers, green
• Pumpkin
• Radish
• Rhubarb
• Rutabagas
• Salsify
• Scorzonera
• Shallots
• Spinach
• Squash
• Sweet potatoes
• Swiss chard
• Tomatoes
• Turnips
• Walnuts
• Watermelon
• Zucchini

Forage seed basket: Code 4

Description

• Alfalfa seed
• Bentgrass seed
• Birdsfoot seed
• Black medic
• Blue grama seed
• Bromes seed
• Chickling vetch seed
• Clover seed
• Fescue seed
• Grass seed
• Milkvetch seed
• Native seed
• Niger thistle
• Rye grass seed
• Sainfoin seed
• Sloughgrass
• Timothy seed
• Wheat grass seed

Organic crop basket: Code 6

Description

• Organic Barley
• Organic Beans
• Organic Buckwheat
• Organic Camelina
• Organic Canary seed
• Organic Canola
• Organic Caraway seed
• Organic Chickpeas
• Organic Corn
• Organic Fababeans
• Organic Flax
• Organic Kamut
• Organic Lentils
• Organic Linola
• Organic Mixed grain
• Organic Mustard
• Organic Oats
• Organic Peas
• Organic Quinoa
• Organic Radish seed
• Organic Rye
• Organic Safflower
• Organic Screenings
• Organic Soybeans
• Organic Spelt
• Organic Sunflower
• Organic Sunola
• Organic Triticale
• Organic Wheat

Herbs and spices basket: Code 9

Description

• Anise
• Arugula
• Basil
• Borage
• Caraway seed
• Chervil
• Chives
• Cilantro
• Comfrey
• Coriander
• Cumin
• Dill
• Echinacea
• Evening primrose
• Fennel
• Fenugreek
• Fireweed
• Gingko biloba
• Ginseng
• Kenaf
• Lavender
• Lemon balm
• Marjoram
• Mint
• Monarda
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Rosemary
• Sage
• St. John's wort
• Stevia
• Summer savory
• Tarragon
• Thyme
• Watercress

Productive capacity code list for livestock

Code	Description	Units
100	Alpaca	Number of females that have birthed
101	Bison	Number of females that have birthed
159	Blue leg, breeder hatching eggs	Number of producing hens
158	Blue leg, broilers	Number sold
104	Cattle	Number of females that have birthed
171	Cattle, bred heifers	Number sold
151	Cattle, semen	Number of straws sold
108	Chickens, breeder, broiler hatching eggs	Number of producing hens
143	Chickens, broilers	Number of kg produced
109	Chickens, layers, eggs for consumption	Number of producing hens
197	Chickens, pullets	Number of animals fed
157	Chickens, Taiwanese, breeder, hatching eggs	Number of producing hens
156	Chickens, Taiwanese, broilers	Number sold
193	Chinchillas	Number of females that have birthed
181	Custom fed bison	Number of animal feed days
141	Custom fed cattle	Number of animal feed days
198	Custom fed chicken pullets	Number of animals fed
190	Custom fed elk	Number of animal feed days
184	Custom fed goats	Number of animal feed days
142	Custom fed hogs	Number of animal feed days
200	Custom fed mink	Number of animals fed
182	Custom fed sheep	Number of animal feed days
115	Deer	Number of females that have birthed
175	Deer, feeders	Number of animals fed
152	Deer, semen	Number of straws sold
178	Donkeys	Number of females that have birthed
168	Ducks, breeder, hatching eggs	Number of producing hens
116	Ducks, broilers	Number sold
117	Elk	Number of females that have birthed
118	Elk, bulls producing velvet	Number of bulls producing
173	Elk, feeders	Number of animals fed
150	Elk, semen	Number of straws sold
119	Emu	Number of females that have birthed
102	Feeder bison (fed up to 700 lbs)	Number of animals fed
105	Feeder cattle (fed up to 900 lbs)	Number of animals fed
112	Feeder dairy cattle (fed up to 900 lbs)	Number of animals fed
103	Finished bison (fed over 700 lbs)	Number of animals fed
106	Finished cattle (fed over 900 lbs)	Number of animals fed
111	Finished dairy cattle (fed over 900 lbs)	Number of animals fed
194	Fox	Number of females that have birthed
169	Geese, breeder, hatching eggs	Number of producing hens
121	Geese, broiler	Number sold
122	Goats	Number of females that have birthed
191	Goats, dairy	Number of females in milk producing herd
183	Goats, feeders	Number of animals fed
123	Hogs, farrow to finish	Number of females that have birthed
145	Hogs, farrowing	Number of females that have birthed
124	Hogs, feeders (fed over 50 lbs)	Number of animals fed
180	Hogs, gilts	Number sold
125	Hogs, nursery (fed up to 50 lbs)	Number of animals fed
149	Hogs, semen	Number of straws sold
126	Honey bees, producing (hives)	Number of hives producing
127	Horses	Number of females that have birthed
176	Horses, feeders	Number of animals fed
192	Horses, semen	Number of straws sold
129	Leaf cutter bees, producing (gallons)	Number of gallons of bees pollinating
130	Llama	Number of females that have birthed
113	Milk quota, milkfat	Number of kg of butterfat/day
195	Mink	Number of females that have birthed
132	Ostrich	Number of females that have birthed
161	Partridge, breeder, hatching eggs	Number of producing hens
160	Partridge, broilers	Number sold
163	Pheasant, ring-necked, breeder, hatching eggs	Number of producing hens
162	Pheasant, ring-necked, broilers	Number sold
165	Pheasant, white, breeder, hatching eggs	Number of producing hens
164	Pheasant, white, broilers	Number sold
128	Pregnant mare urine (PMU) produced	Number of grams contracted
167	Quail, breeder, hatching eggs	Number of producing hens
166	Quail, broilers	Number sold
174	Quail, layers, eggs for consumption	Number of producing hens
196	Rabbits	Number of females that have birthed
187	Red deer	Number of females that have birthed
186	Red deer, bulls producing velvet	Number of bulls producing
188	Red deer, semen	Number of straws sold
136	Reindeer	Number of females that have birthed
137	Rheas	Number of females that have birthed
138	Sheep	Number of females that have birthed
172	Sheep, feeders	Number of animals fed
155	Silkies, breeder, hatching eggs	Number of producing hens
154	Silkies, broilers	Number sold
170	Squab, breeding set	Number of breeding sets
153	Turkeys, breeder, hatching eggs	Number of producing hens
144	Turkeys, broilers	Number of kgs produced
199	Turkeys, poults	Number of poults hatched
140	Wild boar	Number of females that have birthed
177	Wild boar, finishers	Number of animals fed

Regional code list