2025 AgriStability Program - Information Guide for New and Rejoining Participants

Participate in 2025 AgriStability in 4 easy steps

Step 1: Complete the New and rejoining participant information form

To enrol in AgriStability for the 2025 program year:

• download the New and rejoining participant information form
• return the New and rejoining participant information form to us by July 31, 2025

Step 2: Enrol in AgriStability and pay your fee

We'll send you an Enrolment Notice showing your program fee.

• Pay your fee by the deadline on your Enrolment Notice
• If you decide not to participate, you must indicate this on the tear-off portion and return it to us by the deadline
  • Otherwise we will automatically enrol you for AgriStability for 2025, and you will owe your fee and a 20% late penalty
• The final deadline to pay your fee with a 20% late penalty is December 31, 2025 unless your Enrolment Notice shows a different date

Step 3: File your 2025 AgriStability form by the deadline

• The initial deadline to file your form without penalty is June 30, 2026
• The final deadline with penalty is September 30, 2026

Step 4: File an income tax return by the deadline

• File a 2025 income tax return reporting farming income (loss) to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) by September 30, 2026.

If you need assistance call us toll-free at: 1-866-367-8506.

Send your completed forms by mail or fax to:

Mail

AgriStability Administration
PO Box 3200
Winnipeg MB R3C 5R7

Fax

Toll-free number: 1-877-949-4885

Confidential information and participant consent

The personal information you submit on the New and rejoining participant information form is collected under the authority of Section 4 the Farm Income Protection Act and will be used for the purpose of calculating an Enrolment Notice. Your Enrolment Notice will show your contribution reference margin and the program fee you must pay in order to participate in AgriStability.

Your social insurance number (SIN) is collected and used only when issuing a taxable benefit, under the authority of Sections 10 and 11 of the Farm Income Protection Act.

Your personal information will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Act. You have the right to the protection and correction of, and access to, your personal information. For personal information under the control of AAFC, these rights may be exercised by contacting the AAFC Access to Information and Privacy Director at aafc.atip-aiprp.aac@agr.gc.ca.

You also have the right to file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada concerning AAFC's handling of your personal information. 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 enrol in the AgriStability program
• understand that once we issue you an Enrolment Notice, you will be enrolled in AgriStability. Understand that if you decide not to participate in AgriStability, you must indicate this on the tear-off portion of the Enrolment Notice and return it to us by the deadline shown on your Enrolment Notice. Otherwise, you will be required to pay the fee and any outstanding penalty
• agree to pay your fee by the final deadline or you will not be eligible for 2025 AgriStability benefits and your outstanding fee and penalty will be recovered from future program benefits
• understand you must complete and file a final 2025 AgriStability and AgriInvest form by the final filing deadline
• understand you must file a 2025 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 third parties and other government programs disclosing to the Administration, upon its request, any information pertaining to you and your financial affairs which the Administration considers necessary for the purpose of verifying the AgriStability benefit or the information provided on this form
• consent to the CRA disclosing to the Administration, upon its request, any information pertaining to you and your financial affairs which the Administration considers necessary for the purpose of verifying the AgriStability benefit or the information provided on this form (except Status Indians and Band farms farming on a reserve in Canada who are exempt from filing an income tax return)

Once you are enrolled in AgriStability, you:

• 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 the purpose of:
  • administering your participation in AgriStability
  • determining your eligibility for benefits
  • verifying the information submitted
  • auditing, analyzing, and evaluating the AgriStability program and other federal or provincial/territorial programs by the Administration, AAFC, the provincial or territorial governments or third parties engaged for that purpose

Before you start

Use this guide to complete the form you need to enrol in the 2025 AgriStability Program.

This guide is for you if you did not participate in the program in the past 2 program years (that is, the 2024 and 2023 program years).

If you received a Calculation of Program Benefits for either the 2024 or 2023 program year, we will automatically send you an Enrolment Notice or an invitation to participate.

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

Once we receive your completed form, we will send you an Enrolment Notice showing your fee and fee deadline.

If you decide not to participate after you receive an Enrolment Notice, you must notify us by the deadline on your notice. Otherwise, we will automatically enrol you for AgriStability 2025 and you will owe the fee and a 20% penalty.

AgriStability overview

AgriStability is a voluntary program that provides support when you experience larger income losses.

AgriStability is based on margins:

Program margin – your allowable income minus your allowable expenses adjusted for changes in purchased inputs, receivables, payables and inventory.

Reference margin – an average of your program margins for the past 5 years with adjustments made to reflect significant changes to the size or structure of your farm. We drop the highest and lowest years and average the remaining years.

Generally, you will receive an AgriStability payment when your program margin in the current year falls more than 30% below your reference margin. AgriStability covers 80% of your decline that is beyond the 30%.

2025 Reference margins will be calculated as follows:

• If you participated in the program in any of the past 4 years, we will calculate your reference margin using the program margins for the previous 5 years. The highest and lowest program margins are dropped and the remaining 3 years are averaged. This is called an Olympic average.
• If you did not participate in the program for the past 4 years, we will calculate your reference margin using an average of the 3 previous program year margins. We'll continue to calculate your reference margin using the 3 previous program year margins until you have 5 years of historical information on file.
• If you did not have farming activity in one or more of the 5 previous years, your reference margin will be calculated using an average of the 3 previous program year margins. If you did not have farming activity in any of the 3 previous years, we will create margins for any missing years using industry averages.

We'll request the information required to calculate your reference margin after we send you an Enrolment Notice showing your fee and fee deadline.

Participant overview

Participants include:

• communal organizations
• co-operatives
• corporations
• estates
• individual producers
• landlords in a crop or livestock share joint venture^{Endnote 1}
• limited partnerships^{Endnote 2}
• partners in a partnership
• Status Indians and Band farms farming on a reserve
• trusts

To participate in AgriStability, you must:

• farm in Canada
• complete a minimum of 6 consecutive months of farming activity and a production cycle, unless you experienced a disaster
• enrol in the program, pay your fee and file a form by the applicable deadlines
• file an income tax return reporting farming income (loss) to the CRA by the final filing deadline for the program year (except Status Indians farming on a reserve in Canada who are exempt from filing a tax return)^{Endnote 3}

Generally, you are eligible for AgriStability if you farm in Canada and earn income from producing primary agricultural products such as:

• grains, oilseeds and specialty crops
• horticulture
• livestock

Agricultural products that you produce and process on your farm may also be eligible, for example strawberries made into jam.

For complete program rules, go to AgriStability Program Guidelines.

Important deadlines

• July 31, 2025
  • deadline to return your completed 2025 New and rejoining participant information form
  • non-penalty deadline to pay your 2025 AgriStability fee (unless your Enrolment Notice shows a different date)
• December 31, 2025
  • final deadline to pay your 2025 AgriStability fee with a 20% penalty (unless your Enrolment Notice shows a different date)
• June 30, 2026
  • initial deadline to file your 2025 AgriStability form without a late filing penalty
• September 30, 2026
  • final deadline to file your 2025 AgriStability form with a late filing penalty
  • deadline to file your 2025 income tax return reporting farming income (loss) to the CRA

We'll reduce your benefit by $500 for each month (or part of a month) you submit your form between the initial and final deadline.

If a deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday, you have until the next business day to send the information.

Where to send your completed form

Send your completed forms by mail or fax to:

Mail

AgriStability Administration
PO Box 3200
Winnipeg MB R3C 5R7

Fax

Toll-free to: 1-877-949-4885

Completing your form

To participate in AgriStability, we must assign you a participant identification number (PIN).

The PIN uniquely identifies your farm operation and protects the privacy of your information.

If you previously participated in AgriStability or AgriInvest, you have a PIN. If not, we will assign one to you. Keep the number handy as you will need it for future contact and participation.

New and rejoining participant information

Participant identification

Participant name and address

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

Enter your participant identification number (PIN) if you have one. If you do not have a PIN, leave this field blank.

If you are an individual producer, provide your social insurance number.

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

If the operation is a trust or communal organization, provide the trust taxation number.

Farm type

Tick the box that best describes your farming business.

If you are a Status Indian Band Farm, provide your Band number.

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.

Language of preference

Enter your language of preference.

Partnership information

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.

Corporation information

Complete this section if you are a shareholder in a corporation.

Report the name and PIN of the shareholder/members or group of related shareholders/members who have controlling interest in the corporation.

Indicate if a shareholder previously participated in AgriStability as an individual and transferred land or inventory to the corporation under Section 85 of the Income Tax Act. Attach a copy of one of the following documents showing that a legal transfer to the corporation has taken place:

• signed documentation confirming the transfer of property has legally taken place under the Income Tax Act
• a signed declaration the shareholder filed an election under Section 85 of the Income Tax Act (Form T2057 or T2058)
• a copy of the original signed contract between the shareholder and the corporation

If you have paid your fee as an individual we will transfer it to your corporation once the signed documents are received. Your fee must also be paid by your Enrolment Notice deadline.

If the signed documents are not available when you send the form, send them when available.

If a corporation is a shareholder, report the names and PINs of the shareholders or group of related shareholders who have controlling interest in that corporation. Attach a separate sheet if necessary.

Productive units for new and rejoining participants

We'll use this information to calculate your contribution reference margin for your Enrolment Notice.

Operation Number (#)

If you have more than one farming operation:

• complete a form for each operation (contact us to request additional forms, or submit a copy of page 2 for each operation)
• number each operation
• send all forms together

2025 Crop productive capacity

Fiscal period

Enter the year, month and day for the beginning and end of your farm's taxation year. Your farm's 2025 fiscal period must end in the 2025 tax year.

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 period.

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

Crop share

If you are 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 period.

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 period 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.

2025 Livestock 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

Do not include calves that were born or you expect to be born in your fiscal period.

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 2025 (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

Do not 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

Do not include the following animals on these lines:

• animals born or you expect to be born within the fiscal period
• 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 multiplied by the 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.

Productive capacity code list for livestock

Livestock

Regional code list