Forage rainfall coverage uses rainfall as an indicator of quantity and quality of forage. Two coverage options are available:
Insured perils
The insufficient rainfall option protects against insufficient rainfall only (meaning less than 85% of the long-term average rainfall for your area during the insured period).
The excess rainfall option provides protection against excess rainfall during your chosen harvest period.
Calculating your coverage and claims
Your coverage depends on:
- Forage crop value
- Chosen coverage value
- Coverage options
- Chosen rainfall collection sites
- Harvest window (excess rainfall only)
Forage crop value
Agricorp works with you to determine a dollar value for each forage stand, including any organic forage fields.
Insufficient rainfall option
Improved tillable land is valued between $100 and $640 per acre.
Improved pastureland is valued between $25 and $160 per acre.
Unimproved pastureland is valued between $25 and $40 per acre.
Excess rainfall option
Only hay (improved tillable land) is insurable under the excess rainfall option. Improved tillable land is valued between $100 and $640 per acre.
Chosen coverage value
You may choose to insure your forage from a minimum of $2,000 up to a maximum that is equal to your total forage crop value. There is no minimum acreage to participate. If you enroll in both the insufficient rainfall and excess rainfall options, your chosen coverage value for your hay/haylage portion must be the same for both options.
Coverage options
Insufficient rainfall
If the measured rainfall at the rainfall collection sites you choose during the insured period is less than 85% of the long-term average rainfall for your area, a claim may be paid. To recognize the limited benefit of increased rainfall, there are maximum daily and monthly rainfall caps:
- Daily rainfall is capped at 50 mm.
- Each month's rainfall is capped at 125% of the long-term average for that county.
Days with less than 1 mm of rainfall are counted as 0 mm towards the monthly total to recognize small amounts of rainfall lost to evaporation.
Since your rainfall requirements depend on your farm type and management practices, there are four coverage options that cover insufficient rainfall. Each measures the rainfall differently to determine if it is less than 85 per cent of the historical average.
| Coverage option | How rainfall is measured |
| Base plan | The rainfall for each month from May through August is given equal weighting (100%).
|
| Monthly weighting | The claim calculation is performed in a similar way to the base plan, except the deficit or surplus of the actual rainfall in each month is weighted as follows: May at 130%, June at 120%, July at 80%, and August at 70%. |
| Bimonthly weighting | Claims are calculated separately for May through June and July through August. 60% of coverage is allocated to May-June and 40% of coverage is allocated to July-August. |
| 3-month weighting | Only rainfall for May, June, and July is used, and all 3 months are given equal weighting (100%).
|
View rainfall data by year for each coverage option.
Excess rainfall option
Rainfall thresholds: You can select a rainfall threshold of 5 mm or 7 mm. If you do not have any consecutive 5-day windows in your intended harvest period with less rainfall than your chosen threshold, a claim will be paid.
Harvest Period: Choose one of the following harvest period options based on when you typically harvest your first cut hay or haylage. The 10-day harvest period options are:
May 22-31
June 1-10
June 11-20
June 21-30
July 1-10
Rainfall collection sites
A professional weather service provides rainfall data from a network of 350 rainfall collection sites across Ontario. You can select up to 3 sites in the geographical township where you produce forage or in an adjacent geographical township. If there are no rainfall collection sites in either of these locations, you may select the sites closest to your forage production. You then allocate a percentage of your coverage to each site you choose, and they must add up to a total of 100%. Your selected sites are used to gather data for both the insufficient and excess rainfall options if you're enrolled in both.
View long-term average rainfall.
How claims are determined
Insufficient rainfall option
After the rainfall collection period, Agricorp sends you a forage rainfall yield report that shows the rainfall received at your chosen rainfall sites. The report details any applicable claims, which are based on the coverage value and option you selected. If a claim is payable, the cheque will be included with your report.
The claim amount is based on:
The amount of coverage you chose (your chosen coverage value)
The amount of rainfall compared to the long term average (% of rainfall)
Price index based on the % of rainfall
Price index
The value of a claim depends on % of rainfall received. The price index increases as the % of rainfall decreases to account for the higher cost of purchasing replacement forage during rainfall shortages. The following table is used to determine the price index based on the % of rainfall when calculating a claim.
|
% of rainfall |
Price index |
80% up to 85% |
1.0 |
75% up to 80% |
1.1 |
70% up to 75% |
1.2 |
60% up to 70% |
1.3 |
55% up to 60% |
1.4 |
50% up to 55% |
1.5 |
Less than 50% |
1.6 |
Claim formula
Depending on the % of rainfall received, the following formulas are used to calculate claim payments.
| % of rainfall | Formula |
| Over 85% of rainfall | N/A (No claim payment made) |
| 80% – 85% of rainfall | (85% – % of rainfall) × applied coverage × price index |
| Under 80% of rainfall | [5% + ((80% – % of rainfall) × 1.5)] × applied coverage × price index
|
Rainfall deficits less than 80% of the long-term average are factored at 1.5 to reflect increased forage yield losses below this level. An additional 5% is added to represent the yield loss from 85%-80%.
Excess rainfall option
If you do not have any consecutive 5-day windows in your intended harvest period with less rainfall than your chosen threshold, a claim is paid. Claims are automatically calculated and mailed to you at the end of the summer.
Claim = 35% × chosen coverage value
Example:
A claim is payable since there are no consecutive 5-day windows with less than 5 mm of rainfall. If the chosen coverage value is $10,000, the claim payable would be $10,000 x 35% = $3,500.
Note: Total claims from the insufficient rainfall and excess rainfall options cannot exceed the chosen insured value of the forage grown.
