AgriInsurance is, I would have to say, the most popular program we have. It primarily covers crops. There are some mortality and production coverages for certain types of livestock, but for the most part it's crops.
It's a very transparent and bankable program. The federal government pays 36% of the premium, the province chips in 24%, and individual farmers chip in 40%. The provinces administer the program. Working with provinces in the last year, we have been trying to boost things like the unseeded acreage benefit, which helps when you're flooded out. We've had two instances of that out west, as you know; there are very significant payouts from AgriInsurance.
We've also been tasked by ministers to look at developing new insurance and risk management tools in price insurance, for example. We've seen a couple of models in Alberta for fed cattle and cow-calf, where they're trying to develop a price insurance scheme that would allow producers to lock in a certain price. If they can manage their cost of production, they know how profitable they are going to be. That's something we're looking at.
The minister is very interested in continuing to push on the development of either private sector or government-backed tools that can help farmers manage risk. The challenge for us is that a genuinely new tool in an area of insurance that's actuarially sound is a very expensive and complex undertaking. You have to approach it very incrementally and very methodically to get the risk measurement and premiums right, and make sure it's stable and viable over the long term. It's quite a challenge.