For Canadian farm businesses, AgriInvest can be a highly valuable program. It’s a savings account farms share with the government to help manage income loss, make investments, minimize risk and increase income. Once AgriInvest processes your application and provides you with the deposit notice in any given year, you can make a deposit to your AgriInvest account and receive a corresponding matching government contribution. This contribution is set at one per cent of “Allowable Net Sales” (ANS). As you make deposits, receive matching government contributions and earn interest, your account grows. Producers should be aware of important upcoming changes in two areas: deadlines and the new agri‑environmental risk assessments.

Earlier filing deadline

In the past, the initial deadline to apply for the AgriInvest program without penalty was Sept. 30 of the following year, and the final deadline to apply with penalty was Dec. 31. Starting with the 2025 program year, both deadlines are moving several months earlier. The new deadline to apply without penalty for the 2025 year is June 30, 2026, and the deadline to apply with penalty is Sept. 30, 2026. As you make plans for the year ahead, be sure to keep these new dates in mind, as failing to take note could significantly reduce your ability to receive AgriInvest funding.

New agri‑environmental risk assessment

The other major AgriInvest update for 2025 is a new requirement regarding agri‑environmental risk assessment. If your average ANS ⁠–⁠ before the ANS limit is applied ⁠–⁠ is $1 million or more for the previous three program years, you must have an eligible and valid agri‑environmental risk assessment to receive matching government contributions. This is an assessment of agri‑environmental risks on your farming operations that aims to improve the health and safety of your operations, add value to your property, reduce costs and support competitiveness.

Calculating ANS

A farm business can calculate its ANS by subtracting “allowable” expenses from “allowable” commodity sales. These are typically your direct sales of agricultural commodities less the direct expenses. For a cash crop operation with $1.5 million in crops sold and $200,000 of seed expenses, the unadjusted ANS would be $1,300,000 for that year. There is a $1 million limit in place as to what support will be provided. This translates into a maximum $10,000 eligible deposit. To determine whether your operation is above the $1 million ANS limit for 2025, calculate your average from the 2022‑2024 program years. The $1 million ANS limit will not be considered when making this calculation. If your average ANS for the previous three years exceeds $1 million, you must now have an eligible agri‑environmental risk assessment in place to receive matching government contributions.

Selecting your risk assessment

While the AgriInvest program does not deliver agri‑environmental risk assessments directly, eight options are currently listed as valid: 4R designation for farmers, Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) Sustainable Beef Production Standard, Certified Organic, Environmental Farm Plan, Nutrient Management Plans, Saskatchewan agri‑environmental risk assessment, Plan agroenvironnemental de fertilisation and Plan d’accompagnement agroenvironnemental.

Submitting a declaration

Once you have an eligible agri‑environmental risk assessment that’s valid at some point in the relevant fiscal year, you should submit a declaration. If this declaration is not submitted before you make your matchable deposit, you may experience delays receiving matching government contributions. If you don’t submit a declaration at all, you will not be eligible for matching government contributions in that fiscal year.

Meet the Author

Luc Joye
Elora, Ontario
E .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)