• a joint Federal/Quebec Crop Insurance program similar to Ontario's. Unused Crop Insurance funds are redirected to fund ASRA.
• a basic NISA program plus enhancement is restricted to edible horticulture (contributions: 4% Quebec, 2% Federal, 6% producer). All NISA funding for other commodities is redirected to fund ASRA.
• Quebec is a partner in the Agricultural Income Disaster Assistance program (AIDA, now Canadian Farm Income Program - CFIP), but because ASRA payments are considerably higher than AIDA, AIDA is not significant for grain and oilseed producers and AIDA payments are reduced by the amounts received by a producer from ASRA anyway.

Therefore, the current Quebec safety net structure consists of Crop Insurance, NISA for horticulture crops only, AIDA/CFIP (with NISA and ASRA offsets), and ASRA.

INCOME SUPPORT COMPARISON: 500 ACRE GRAIN & OILSEED FARM
(Cdn$/acre net of premiums)	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000est
U.S Farm Programs	$21.44	$31.87	$104.38	$109.06	$123.00
Quebec ASRA	$13.56	$29.62	$76.61	$84.54	$112.11
Ontario MRI/NISA/AIDA	$18.37	$18.59	$28.52	$43.65	$62.01

The distinctive feature of ASRA for grains and oilseeds is that it essentially guarantees a revenue per seeded acre per commodity based on a cost of production formula which includes 90% of a skilled worker's wage ($35,348.04 in 1997). The cost of production per commodity is generated by a 617 acre (250 hectare) model farm consisting of 411.5 acres of grain corn, 68.67 acres each of soybeans, milling wheat and feed wheat or barley. The cost of production for each commodity becomes the support price: i.e., 2000/01 corn $4.79/bushel, soybeans $8.81/bu, milling wheat $6.72/bu. A payment to enrolled producers is triggered whenever the average market price in Quebec for that commodity is below the support price. Individual yields are not required because the program uses the average yield for each insurance zone or area in the province. In actual fact, for whatever reason, ASRA has used the same average yield for the entire province for corn, soybeans and wheat for the last six years: corn 105.2 bu/ac, soybeans 40.2 bu/ac, wheat 50.6 bu/ac. All that an individual producer reports is his/her seeded acreage. The support payment per commodity is calculated as: support price - market price X zone average yield X individual's seeded acreage.

GOVERNMENT SPENDING IN SUPPORT OF AGRICULTURE
$millions	Quebec				Ontario
Income Support & Stabilzation	97-98	98-99	99-00	Total	97-98	98-99	99-00	Total
-Provincial	169.3	157.4	130.6	457.3	60.4	68.7	65.7	194.8
-Federal	166.2	94.1	124.9	385.2	121.2	116.9	193.9	432.2
TOTAL	335.5	251.5	255.5	842.7	181.6	185.6	259.6	627.1
Source: AAFC Policy Branch, Data Book/June 2000 Update, Table C.2

One source of funding for ASRA is producer premiums. Premiums are assessed on reported seeded acreage annually, regardless of anticipated payouts. For example, there were no compensation payments in 1995 for corn, soybeans or wheat, but premiums were due before the end of the insurance year regardless (there were also no compensation payments for soybeans in 1993 or 1996). Premiums have varied widely in the last decade, from $0.10/acre for corn in 1993 to $39.55/acre in 2000 ($16.09/acre for soybeans, $32.64/acre for wheat). However, producers do not actually make cash premium payments in most years. For those already enrolled in ASRA, 100% of premium costs are deducted from the initial compensation payment if it is large enough. If not, the remaining premium is deducted from the second compensation installment. ASRA has a schedule of compensation payments:

• 40% of the expected total ASRA compensation payment is usually made in November or December of the harvest year (although the initial payment for the 2000 crop was made in May 2000)
• another 30% (total 70% of expected payment) is made the following April
• the final payment is made in January of the next year.

For example, compensation payments for the 1998-99 ASRA program were made in November 1998 and April 1999, with the final payment made in January 2000. This means that payments for various crop-years overlap. For example, in the first six months of 2000, corn, soybean and wheat producers received their final 1998-99 payment in January 2000, their second payment for the 1999-2000 crop in April 2000, and their initial payment for the 2000-01 crop in May 2000.

In order to illustrate ASRA program results, a theoretic 500 acre farm is used: 200 acres corn, 200 acres soybeans, 100 acres wheat (to mimic the approximate provincial ratio of commodity acreage in Ontario). Actual Quebec results for ASRA are detailed for 1996 - 2000 and compared to actual results in Ontario under Market Revenue, NISA, and OWFRP/AIDA as well as to results for the same farm as if operated under U.S. farm programs:

There is one other distinctive feature that ASRA illustrates...the willingness of the provincial government to fund income support and stabilization programs. Provincial funding for income support and stabilization programs in Quebec, channeled largely through ASRA, was 2.35 times greater than similar funding in Ontario in the 3 years 97-98 through 99-00 despite Quebec's provincial agricultural GDP of $2.693 billion being only 67% of Ontario's $3.967 billion in 1999-2000. Quebec expenditures to agriculture are 19.6% of provincial agricultural GDP whereas Ontario's expenditures to agriculture are only 9.4% of provincial agricultural GDP.