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Frequently Asked Questions
Michel Mercier Consultants (MMC) Michel Mercier Consultants (MMC) continues its vision: to build a sustainable and innovative agriculture.
Originating in Quebec, we aspire to share our advancements in agricultural market risk management with all of Canada, while promoting the exchange of knowledge and know-how from one ocean to the other.
To reflect this new stage in our development, we are adopting a brand in which all Canadians can identify, in both French and English.
Agrintel expresses our approach more directly: at the crossroads of technological intelligence and agricultural tradition.
Its founder, Michel Mercier, remains at the helm of operations and continues to pursue this vision with the same collaborators who have been with him for several years and who deeply understand the realities of the Canadian agricultural world.
Michel Mercier himself grew up on a farm and experienced firsthand the challenges related to profitability, market volatility and the solitude involved in decision-making.
AgrIntel is primarily serving independent agricultural producers.
Agrintel is working to build a sustainable and innovative Canadian agriculture.
To build a sustainable and innovative Canadian agriculture, we must reduce the vulnerability of family farms to fluctuations in agricultural markets and uncertainty in government support programs.
Our mission is therefore to help Canadian farmers manage market volatility and maximize their profitability through proprietary technology and personalized advice.
To achieve this, we equip producers with accessible, powerful and rigorous decision support solutions.
The Agrintel algorithm offers producers access to a strategic technology once reserved for large companies, enabling them to make more informed decisions and restore true fairness in the agricultural world.
The Agrintel algorithm is a proprietary technology developed in Quebec to support decision-making in agricultural market risk management.
It does not seek to predict prices: it structures the decision.
Its goal is to help producers answer key hedging questions — how much, when and how to position themselves — in order to protect their margins and ensure the financial stability of their business.
The algorithm comprises four key functions
1 – Calculating margins
Calculate margins dynamically from the concept of aggregate, which groups several related futures contracts (for example, for the pork aggregate: pork, corn, soybean meal and exchange rate contracts).
2 – Projecting costs and margins
Project costs and margins up to the next 18 months to provide strategic visibility and a clear forecasting framework.
3 – Strategy Adaptation
Adapting the strategy in real time through daily analysis of futures markets and monthly calibrations, allowing decisions to be adjusted according to trends and economic conditions.
4 – Consistency of positions
Apply rigorous decision-making criteria, derived from scientific analysis, to ensure consistent, measured and responsible positions are taken.
No, the algorithm never replaces professional judgment. At Agrintel, technology and human expertise work together. Each recommendation from the algorithm is reviewed and validated by MMC’s agricultural economist, who analyzes the future margins generated and adjusts the strategy according to each farm’s specific context. This double validation system serves as an essential safeguard.
Our continuous improvement approach is based on a constant feedback loop between research conducted by our experts and innovations from the field.
Each component of the algorithm is validated, adjusted and enhanced based on real market observations and user feedback.
Dynamic calibration
The algorithm is calibrated monthly to adapt to new trends and changing conditions in agricultural markets.
Structured experimentation
A beta group of producers – representing more than 125,000 pigs – tests each innovation in real-world conditions.
The optimized results are then deployed within the Omega group, ensuring the reliability and relevance of the improvements
User feedback
Producers using Agrintel are at the heart of the evolution process.Their observations and proposals often inspire new research and the development of additional modules.
Integration of effective field strategies
Some successful strategies from the field are even integrated into the tool, thus reinforcing its collective value and operational relevance.
Transparency is at the heart of our approach.
Each producer has full access to results and performance analyses, in order to clearly track the evolution of their positions and margins.
Regular disclosure
Users receive detailed reports on a weekly, monthly, and annual basis.
These reports present the active positions, the margins achieved and the overall performance of the hedging strategy.
Annual meetings
Each year, we organize group meetings to present the results, compare the performance of the algorithm to that of the market, and share learnings among producers.
This approach promotes continuous improvement, based on collaboration, transparency and facts.
Over the past twenty years, the algorithm has demonstrated a good average annual performance per pig when applied to the pig aggregate.
It displays a positive positioning rate that significantly exceeds traditional manual approaches.
However, we want to stress that no tool can guarantee absolute success in such volatile markets.
Economic intelligence framework
We are building a sustainable economic intelligence framework for agricultural businesses.
Each farmer is supported in a structured approach aimed at strengthening their skills and decision-making autonomy.
Prerequisite
In order to create a common culture in risk management, each client commits to attending at least 8 hours of training per year, offered by AgrIntel and its specialized partners.
Personalized support
Each farm or group of clients benefits from two face-to-face meetings per year to analyze results, adjust strategies and align objectives with market conditions.
Integrated tools
Users have access to a secure and interactive portal, offering dynamic dashboards for margin monitoring, analytical reports, positioning recommendations and access to strategic documentation.
Agricultural market risk management is a structured approach that enables producers to reduce uncertainty related to input, product, and currency prices. It is based on market analysis, assessment of financial exposure and the implementation of appropriate hedging strategies.
The goal is not to predict markets, but to transform volatility into rational decisions in order to protect margins, stabilize incomes and support the sustainability of agricultural businesses.
Agricultural economics services encompass all the analyses and tools used to understand, plan and improve the economic performance of an agricultural business.
These include, in particular:
- Management and monitoring of production costs
- Budget planning and financial forecasting
- Risk management in agricultural markets (futures contracts, hedging, exchange rates)
- Analysis of margins, correlations, and market scenarios
- Economic modeling of farms and supply chains
- Strategic support for decision-making.
Technical production services encompass the expertise and interventions that support the operational performance of agricultural businesses.
They cover, in particular:
- Animal nutrition and feeding
- Health management and biosecurity
- Reproduction and genetics
- Building and equipment management (ventilation, automation)
- Monitoring of technical and economic performance.
These services play a key role in the profitability of farms, as they allow technical parameters to be aligned with the economic and strategic objectives defined in risk management.
Health coordination involves applying different prevention and health control strategies in a structured way in order to minimize the impact of endemic diseases on livestock performance.
It is based on an integrated approach that links the three key stages of production — maternity, nursery and fattening — to ensure consistency of interventions and continuity of monitoring.
The objective is to act preventively rather than reactively, by combining biosecurity, flow management, vaccination, performance analyses and monitoring of health indicators.
By limiting the spread and economic effects of endemic diseases, health coordination contributes directly to improving profitability, sustainability and animal welfare in agricultural businesses.
Les Research and development projects allow for the testing of new practices, methods or technologies directly under real production conditions.
They transform scientific observations into concrete, validated and applicable solutions in the field.
By collaborating with producers, researchers and industry partners, these projects promote practical innovation, continuous improvement and the dissemination of knowledge adapted to agricultural realities.
They thus contribute to strengthening the profitability, sustainability and competitiveness of agricultural businesses.
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