It would likely put business risk management spending under the microscope as costs have soared in recent years, and the leaders of both major parties currently campaigning to be prime minister are talking about spending less.

“It is worth noting the cost of the BRM suite effectively doubled between 2019-20 and 2023-24,” said CAPI managing director and co-author of the report Tyler McCann. “The cost to Agriculture Canada alone for their 60 per cent is over $2 billion, most of that because of the increased costs of crop insurance.”

‘Sacred cows’

The report notes, however, that BRM programs are “sacred cows” that both farmers and politicians would like to preserve. It said the question is not just how much is spent but how effective it is spent.

“To the crop insurance cost, I think that the industry itself needs to understand that we’re living in a world today where the impact of the trade war that we’re in could do more harm to farmers than a drought does, but we have a significant substantial BRM program to respond to drought, but we don’t have a substantial program to respond to trade wars,” McCann said.

Federal agriculture spending flows through several channels. For example, the department itself had a budget of about $4.2 billion in 2024-25, but there are other organizations such as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Pest Management Regulatory Agency that are funded through other departments.

McCann said the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership is usually referred to as a $3-billion program, but it’s cost-shared and doesn’t include the BRM suite.

“That ag policy framework is actually a $15-billion initiative, and probably on track to be more than now, because of the significant cost of the BRM suite,” he said. “I think we need to be more transparent and understand that there are significant implications of that spending.”

There are questions about the sustainability of the crop insurance program, although government rarely says that out loud, he said. The report said everything should be on the table for review, including the sacred cows and politically sensitive programs that are often off the table.

“This status quo bias can perpetuate inefficiencies and prevent the reallocation of resources to more effective or innovative initiatives,” the report said. “Audit reports consistently highlight problems and gaps, yet these findings often fail to translate into meaningful changes, instead gathering dust on shelves.”

How effective is the spending?

Despite this substantial support for agriculture stakeholders always call for more. A review would look at how effective the spending is rather than just the funding level.

The report, co-authored with Elisabeta Lika, suggests the review proceed the way it did during the Jean Chretien government of the 1990s when it applied a test across government to assess its role and value for money. This differs from the last review of the across-the-board cuts through Stephen Harper’s Deficit Reduction Action Plan completed in 2012.

The 1995 program review used six-test methodology to make decisions, beginning with the question of whether a program continues to serve a public interest. If the answer was no, it was abandoned or transferred.

If yes, the question became if there was a legitimate role for the government, followed by whether it should be federal or provincial government, if the activities could be transferred to the private sector, how it could be more efficient and finally, if the result is affordable within fiscal restraint.

McCann and Lika applied the six tests to several areas of agricultural spending, noting the challenges of federal-provincial-territorial relations and business risk management programs, along with what they called hidden complexities of the role of the department and public goods, climate change, market volatility and supply chain issues, and program cycles and performance measurement gaps.

McCann said a program review undertaken right away would allow enough time before the next version of the agricultural policy framework is negotiated and launched in 2028.

The authors reviewed AgriInvest specifically and found it probably doesn’t pass the public good test, he said, because it is intended to help producers manage small fluctuations that a typical business should be able to manage.

“Similarly the examination of on-farm programs (On-Farm Climate Action Fund, Agricultural Clean Technology Program) highlights potential duplication with provincial efforts,” the report said. “The lack of clarity between federal and provincial roles has increased as AAFC has shifted to funding more on-farm activities.”

But the historic practice is to let provinces lead, meaning the programs don’t pass the federalism test, McCann said.

Funding innovation

In the area of innovation, McCann said there is a strong case for government to fund it but in a different way.

“The last example we use is trade and market access. Given the climate that we’re in, if anything there’s a greater public role and opportunity to actually spend more in that space than they’re spending today,” he said.

McCann added the context of a trade war with the United States puts extra pressure on the need for review because everyone requires a clear sense of whether programs align with priorities, meet the test of the moment, or if governments are providing them just because they have been for 30 years.

“We don’t often have this conversation in agriculture and we do live in a reality where often the response is always, ‘we need government to invest more.’ I think there is a strong argument to be made for governments to invest more in the ag space, but I think before we do that we need to really look at what they’re spending today already and ask ourselves the questions around is it being spent the right way and are we getting the right result.”

He said typically the reviews happen behind closed doors and CAPI would like more of this discussion out in the open.

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He delivered the grain before both companies declared bankruptcy, leaving him short C$165,000 they owed. Now Prybylski has no money to replace his old tractor.

Hundreds of Canadian farmers have received delayed payments for their crops or not been paid at all, as a growing number of grain-buying firms declare bankruptcy amid drought and low commodity prices, according to interviews with dozens of farmers, a government agency, and a review of bankruptcy documents.

Farmers are discovering they are not necessarily protected from the failures, revealing holes in Canada’s farm safety net.

The bankruptcies are adding to farmer troubles in Canada, the world’s top canola and No. 3 wheat producer, while they also brace for tariffs from the United States.

Prybylski, who farms in Willowbrook, Saskatchewan, is relying on a line of credit to cover the shortfall until he harvests the next crop in autumn.

“Where do we cut our expenses? Or how do we get more revenues to do the things we need to do?” Prybylski asked. As planting season approaches, he needs to buy fertilizer, seed and fuel.

Farmers can sell crops to companies that operate storage terminals, merchants and other farmers who fatten livestock. They are generally paid a few weeks after they deliver grain and have long incurred most of their costs, a problem for those who deliver to a buyer that goes broke before paying.

Canadian farmers have some financial protection through the federal government-run Canadian Grain Commission, which regulates crop transactions, oversees grain company failures and at times covers some of what farmers are owed by failed companies. The CGC pays compensation from bonds and other security that licensed companies are required to post.

The CGC managed four company failures in 2024, compared to zero or one most years, and the most since at least 2001, according to government data.

But some unlicensed companies have also failed, suggesting the troubles may be broader.

Farmer Christi Friesen said grain buyer Agfinity tried to delay paying her for three loads of peas, though it ultimately paid the C$75,000 it owed plus interest.

Agfinity declared bankruptcy on November 25.

“I needed to fight,” said Friesen, who farms 5,000 acres (2,023 hectares) of cropland in Alberta’s Peace region. “I kept being a pain in the ass.”

Discovering that some failing companies, such as Agfinity, are unlicensed, has alarmed farmers, as has finding out that some licensed companies are not fully insured.

The situation “has fully exposed that we are not secure,” said southern Saskatchewan farmer Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel.

Companies directly buying crops from farmers must, by law, be licensed with the CGC, with few exceptions. For legal enforcement, the agency must complain to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, which then decides whether to take action.

The CGC has not made such a complaint in at least seven years, said spokesperson Christianne Hacault.

Other flaws in farmer protections are the CGC’s requirement that farmers report non-payment within 90 days, and licensed firms who fail to post adequate security, farmers say.

The CGC is holding consultations with farmers about its protection system, Hacault said.

“We know there are gaps.”

The federal agriculture minister’s office, which oversees the CGC, did not respond to a request for comment.

Agfinity owner Joseph Billett told Reuters that reduced sales due to smaller crops, farmers’ reluctance to sell at low prices and competition from imports of U.S. corn to feed cattle pushed the company over the edge.

“These three factors made profitability very challenging, and for us, impossible, these past few years,” Billett said.

Dust bowl

Farmers in the western half of Canada’s Prairies have grown stunted crops for four years due to dry conditions. In some places, farmers say they are facing the worst prolonged drought since the 1930s Dust Bowl.

Crop insurance claims between 2021 and 2024 shot up seven-fold compared to the previous four-year period due to drought-damaged crops, according to agencies in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Numerous small grain companies, brokers and merchants are among Canadian crop buyers, unlike some countries that are dominated by global players.

In the United States, farmers also had low prices to deal with, but their crops had better growing conditions, allowing them to salvage revenue. Some states regulate grain companies so that farmers have protection against non-payment, but the situation varies state-to-state.

In Canada, some companies have avoided bankruptcy, but are still struggling.

Farmer-built North West Terminal in Unity, Saskatchewan, said in September it would stop buying grain at least through July to avoid losses.

In an interview, NWT CEO Jason Skinner said intense competition to buy reduced crops hit his company, though it has avoided bankruptcy.

“We’ve seen some significant headwinds and . . . margins that aren’t covering costs,” Skinner said.

In May, LSM Grain picked up two truckloads of red lentils, worth about C$50,000, from Saskatchewan farmer Kelly Arthurs, but did not pay him. The CGC revoked LSM’s license in July.

The company could not be reached for comment.

Arthurs complained to the CGC within 90 days of delivering his grain and was eventually compensated.

But 17 farmers owed a combined $842,000 by LSM waited too long and will not qualify for compensation, according to a bankruptcy document and the CGC. Prybylski is one of them.

Global Foods and Ingredients also went broke owing Prybylski money in the spring. He submitted his complaint in time to qualify for coverage, but only received 75 per cent of what he was owed because Global had posted insufficient security.

A law firm representing Global Foods did not respond to a request for comment.

Arthurs said he felt so much stress from months of fighting to get paid that he may quit farming.

“It’s time to retire.”

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The Canadian Crop Hail Association (CCHA) said in a report the organization’s member companies were investigating approximately 1,000 claims of crop damage from storms occurring between June 23 and July 1.

“Numerous early season storms have resulted in a number of claims for the industry,” CCHA Chairman Scott McQueen of Palliser Insurance said in a statement. “Cereals have generally fared better as many were hit in the grassy stages of development and minimal damage to the plant was caused with environmental conditions being favourable so that crops that were hit by hail are able to recover.”

Eleven communities in Alberta and 14 more in Saskatchewan were impacted by the storms. Crops damaged were barley, canola, cereals, chickpeas, corn, dry beans, flax, lentils, mixed grain, mustard, oats, oilseeds, peas, pulses, sugar beets and wheat. There were no claims reported in Manitoba.

Companies contributing to the report were Rain and Hail Insurance Service, Agriculture Financial Services Corporation, Palliser Insurance, Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation and Municipal Hail Insurance.

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The second half of May has been one of the rainiest periods seen in Manitoba in a number of years. On May 24 and 25, upwards to 70 millimetres of precipitation were reported in most areas, causing seeding to become delayed in multiple locations.

“We’re trying to collect all the observations and anecdotes about how much of the crop (was seeded) before the rain. We’re in that diagnostic period here trying to figure out what just happened and where things might go from here,” said Daryl Domitruk, executive director of Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers (MPSG).

While he recognized the rains were much needed after consecutive years of drought, the amounts and the timeliness of the precipitation are causing headaches for farmers. Crop insurance seeding deadlines for soybeans and pulse crops, established by the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC), are in late May and early June.

Regular soybean seeding deadlines range from May 30 to June 8, depending on the area, with extended seeding periods up to June 13. For dry beans, planting deadlines are from June 6 to 10 with extended seeding periods up to June 15. The seeding deadline for field peas is June 15 with the extended seeding period ending on June 20.

As of May 20, field pea planting was 90 per cent complete, while soybean seeding was only 34 per cent finished, according to Manitoba’s weekly provincial crop report. There was no data available for dry beans, but Domitruk estimated about one-third of the crop was in the ground in southcentral Manitoba.

“(Growers) are watching their fields dry and watching the skies all at the same time,” he said. “If we can get favourable conditions between now and (June 4), we might make up a lot of acres.”

For more information on Manitoba crop insurance deadlines, visit: masc.mb.ca.

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Ryder Lee, general manager of the Canadian Cattle Association and chair of the task team, presented an update at the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association’s 14th annual conference in Harrison Hot Springs, B.C., in November. 

The team has representatives from provincial crop insurance agencies, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the beef, dairy and forage sectors. It’s focused on improving programs and increasing uptake. 

Lee said one of the main reasons for discussions is that when events unfold that could have been covered by insurance, and people aren’t in the program, it is unable to respond. Increasing uptake would help get to a spot where governments aren’t getting clobbered and where industry associations aren’t being pressured to find alternative ways to address events. 

He said another reason is to level the playing field on land use between perennial or annual crops. The goal is to make sure the programs and their risk profile don’t influence decisions on what land should be used for. 

Satellite crop assessment 

One of the task team’s projects is product design. This includes premium cost, when the program should pay out and the basis of coverage, such as expected production or rainfall. 

Another topic is communicating details to staff and to potential users. A unique challenge is that forage insurance is not just for grass. 

“It’s a different customer base with different needs and different cash-flow situations,” Lee said. “It’s different if you’re growing hay and you’re selling it: you’re insuring an output… versus if you’re growing feed and you’re growing an input. You have some strongly different motivations if you’re growing feed versus if you’re growing saleable goods.” 

The task team members also discuss and share provincial successes and challenges, allowing them to duplicate successes and avoid problems. 

Another focus is exploring technology such as satellite imagery and machine learning. The team is also looking at forage insurance programs, technology uses and marketing initiatives in other countries. 

As for what comes next, Lee said that is being determined province by province. Global Ag Risk Solutions has a project looking at technology add-ons, satellite imagery and ways to use that satellite imagery. The task team is working together to engage producers and look at ways to reach non-users. And research continues on business risk management programs to see if they can be improved or if they should be replaced. 

Forage insurance in Quebec 

In Quebec, the main forage insurance plan offered is Hay Crop Insurance (ASREC-foin). It is administered by Financière Agricole du Québec (FADQ), a Crown corporation that manages agri- cultural insurance and financing pro- grams in the province. 

Sixty per cent of the insurance is financed by the federal and provincial governments. It is a voluntary program, allowing producers to opt in or out. The other 40 per cent comes from producer premiums. 

William Robitaille, a consultant and PhD bioresource engineering student in the faculty of agricultural and environ- mental sciences at McGill University, focused his master’s thesis on Quebec’s hay crop insurance program, conduct- ing an analysis of its implementation compared to a similar program in Pennsylvania. He said approximately 5,000 farm businesses were insured under the ASREC-foin program in 2023. 

“According to our estimates, in recent years, between 40 per cent and 60 per cent of hay acreage in Quebec has been insured,” said Robitaille. “Producers are therefore making good use of this pro- gram, unlike other forage insurance pro- grams such as those in Pennsylvania.”

The Hay Crop Insurance program provides group coverage, with damage assessed globally for a group of farms in the same region. Compensation corresponds to the average losses assessed for a producer’s area or weather station. 

FADQ assesses hay crop losses using weather stations and loss grids. Producers have until April 30 each year to insure their hay crops and can choose which weather stations within a 75-kilometre radius of their farm will be used to assess crop losses. 

“This approach aims to uncouple insurance from producer decisions,” Robitaille explained. 

In addition to the choice of weather station, growers have several other options, including the guarantee between 70 and 85 per cent of the insurable value; the unit price of hay between 60 and 100 per cent of the reference unit price in 2023; the number of mowings, between two and four; and the harvest start date, which is declared according to the number of mowings chosen. 

There is a hedging option which offers two choices. The first is the feed requirements option, which calculates the quantity of hay insured according to the feed requirements of the company’s herd. The second is the acreage option, which is based on the insured acreage and reference yield of each weather station. 

“Animal producers can choose both options, while non-animal producers can only insure with the second option,” said Robitaille, adding that organic hay producers also have specific options detailed on the FADQ website. 

“It is important to note the risk of non-correlation between losses observed in the field and those assessed by the stations, due to factors such as the distance between the station and the farm,” he said. “Producers should therefore evaluate the results of their adherence to this program in the medium and long term, taking into account potential differences between losses observed and those evaluated by FADQ.”

– Trudy Kelly Forsythe is communications manager for the Canadian Forage & Grassland Association.

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Statistics Canada on Tuesday released figures showing Canadian farm cash receipts in 2022 at $94.9 billion, up 14.1 per cent from 2021, including crop receipts of $53.9 billion (also up 14.1 per cent), livestock receipts of $33.6 billion (up 12.1 per cent) and direct payments from crop insurance and other programs at $7.345 billion (up 23.6 per cent).

Each of the provinces in 2022 logged increases in total farm cash receipts on the year, led by Alberta (up $3.5 billion at $22.2 billion), Ontario (up $2.3 billion at $21.7 billion) and Saskatchewan (up $1.9 billion at $21.03 billion). New Brunswick posted the biggest percentage gain on the year, up 31.8 per cent at $1.31 billion.

Reduced crop marketings in 2022 stemmed from low beginning inventories for most crops at the start of the calendar year, despite better growing conditions relative to Western Canada’s drought-dented 2021, StatCan said.

For example, cash receipts in wheat (other than durum) came in at $9.202 billion in 2022, up 28.2 per cent from 2021, due to a 42 per cent increase in price against a 9.7 per cent decline in marketings. Wheat exports were also down on the year, StatCan said, but the value of those exports was up 21.9 per cent.

Canola followed a similar track, posting total 2022 receipts of $13.7 billion, up 13.4 per cent on the year, with prices up 38.9 per cent against an 18.4 per cent drop in marketings.

Outliers among crops included soybeans — which saw a 30.1 per cent increase in receipts on increases in both prices and marketings — as well as durum, flax and dry beans, each of which saw declines in total receipts compared to 2021.

Among livestock, cattle marketings were near flat at an increase of just 0.5 per cent on the year, but higher prices (up 14 per cent) led to total cattle receipts of $10.8 billion, up 16.4 per cent.

Hog receipts, meanwhile, were up 4.4 per cent on the year at $6.5 billion, with prices up against declines in both slaughter and export marketings, StatCan said. Sheep/lamb receipts were down 7.9 per cent on the year at $229 million.

Supply-managed commodities’ receipts came in at $14.1 billion for 2022, up 12.8 per cent on the year, with dairy up 11.4 per cent at $8.2 billion on an 11.3 per cent increase in prices, and poultry/egg receipts up 14.6 per cent at $5.94 billion.

Among program payments, crop insurance made up the bulk of receipts in 2022 at $4.897 billion, up 30.6 per cent from 2021. Over 90 per cent of crop insurance payments went to Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Among other programs, total AgriStability payments were up 10.9 per cent on the year at $406 million. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Seeding plans may be scaled back in the U.S. breadbasket despite historically high prices for this time of year, reflecting rising global demand and thin world wheat supplies projected to end the 2022-23 marketing year at a six-year low. The tight supplies have been exacerbated as the conflict in Ukraine has disrupted grain exports from the Black Sea region.

The drought threatens Kansas, the top winter wheat growing state, and Oklahoma in two ways: discouraging farmers who have not yet planted from trying, while threatening crops already in the ground from developing properly.

“It’s sort of a grim situation,” said Kent Winter, who farms in Andale, Kan., outside Wichita. He said he normally seeds by mid-October but has yet to plant any wheat this year.

If rain does not fall in the next 10 days, he will begin “dusting in” the crop and hoping for moisture. Final seeding dates to receive full crop insurance coverage are approaching, ranging from Oct. 15 in northwest Kansas to Nov. 15 in the southeast.

Without moisture, wheat shoots may fail to emerge from the ground. Even a delayed emergence would threaten yield potential by narrowing the window for plants to develop a hardy root system and push out more stems, known as tillers, before winter.

“That puts a nail in the coffin,” said Mark Hodges, an agronomist for Plains Grains Inc, an Oklahoma-based group that tests wheat for quality. Hodges said, “If you don’t have the tillers in the fall, it’s really hard to make up that number in the spring.”

Fears of a supply squeeze are underscored by the July Kansas City wheat futures contract trading around $9.40 a bushel, the highest price on record for a new-crop July contract at this time of year, the thick of the fall planting season.

About two-thirds of wheat in the U.S., among the top five global exporters, is grown as a winter crop rather than spring.

While Plains farmers would like to take advantage of high prices, the dry weather may discourage producers from committing to supplies of high-priced seeds and fertilizer.

As a result, Justin Gilpin, chief executive of the Kansas Wheat Commission, expected the number of Kansas wheat acres planted for harvest in 2023 to remain steady with the 7.3 million acres seeded for 2022.

Winter concurred. “With the price of wheat, a lot of operators were planning to at least match or even up their acres for this coming year. But this drought is having a huge influence on plans,” he said.

Poor emergence could have a longer-term cost as well. Wheat helps anchor topsoil in the Plains, protecting it from wind erosion.

“No farmer wants to see his ground blowing. So you go ahead and plant wheat, and hope like heck you get it up before winter comes,” said Martin Kerschen, who farms in Garden Plain, Kansas.

Wheat is a famously hardy crop that can bounce back from struggles with poor weather. But forecasts are for drought to persist in the southern Plains through December.

In Kansas, 27 per cent of the state is in “exceptional drought,” the most extreme category, and virtually the entire state is abnormally dry, according to the latest weekly U.S. Drought Monitor report prepared by a consortium of climatologists.

A key driver of the drought is the La Nina weather phenomenon, which tends to favour warm and dry conditions in the Plains. The current La Nina is in its third year.

— Julie Ingwersen is a Reuters commodities correspondent in Chicago.

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Provincial Finance Minister Donna Harpauer on Wednesday released her 2022-23 budget with $17.6 billion in expenditures on $17.2 billion in revenues, for an expected deficit of $463 million, well down from the province’s forecast deficit of $2.185 billion for 2021-22.

The province said its budgetary appropriations and expenses for the agriculture ministry come in at $462.4 million, up 19.5 per cent from 2021-22, on “strong 2022-23 crop insurance program and record agriculture research funding.”

The 2022-23 budget’s broader agriculture-themed expenditures come in at $1.04 billion, up 18.3 per cent from the 2021-22 budget of $879.3 million, primarily due to “higher projected crop insurance indemnities as a result of higher crop prices, as well as higher reinsurance premiums.”

However, that estimate is well down from the province’s latest forecast for those 2021-22 ag-themed expenditures, at $3.19 billion, due mainly to last year’s drought-related crop insurance payouts and AgriRecovery program costs.

New line items relating to agriculture this year include $475,000 to set up a new Crown corporation, to be called the Saskatchewan Indigenous Investment Finance Corp.

The new Crown is expected to offer up to $75 million in loan guarantees on private-sector lending to Indigenous communities and organizations for investments into “natural resource and value-added agriculture projects,” the province said.

The province will also further backstop major value-added ag projects through “enhancement” of the Saskatchewan Value-added Agriculture Incentive (SVAI), a 15 per cent tax credit in place since 2018 on capital expenditures of at least $10 million toward newly constructed or expanded value-added ag facilities.

Retroactive to 2018, eligible projects will still get the 15 per cent rebate on the portion of a project’s expenditures up to $400 million, but could also get 30 per cent on the portion between $400 million and $600 million, and 40 per cent on the portion in excess of $600 million. The dollar value of the tax credit will be capped at $250 million.

Examples of qualifying projects include canola crush facilities, pea protein processors, oat milling operations, malt producing operations, and cannabis oil facilities, the province said.

The SVAI and other incentives are “key to Saskatchewan’s competitiveness, attracting private investment from global companies like BHP, Richardson International, Viterra, Ceres Global Ag, Cargill, Federated Co-operatives, AGT Foods, Paper Excellence and Red Leaf Pulp,” the province said Wednesday.

The province on Wednesday also noted that starting April 1 this year, certain “clarifications” will made to provincial sales tax (PST) related to farming and agriculture activities — for example, confirming a PST exemption for the “on-farm digging of dugouts.”

Revenues

On the taxation side of the ledger, the province announced Wednesday it will make “minor changes” to its education property tax (EPT) mill rates for this budget year, “asking residential (and) agricultural as well as commercial and resource property owners to pay slightly more EPT on average.”

For agricultural properties, that 2022 EPT mill rate will rise to 1.42 from 1.36, while residential property EPT mill rates will rise to 4.54 from 4.46.

Harpauer said Wednesday the province’s improved revenue forecast is based on increased revenue from taxes at $8.1 billion, up $850 million from 2021-22 — but also on non-renewable resource revenue at $2.9 billion, up by $1.6 billion from 2021-22.

That increased resource revenue, she said, is “largely due to higher potash and oil price forecasts, which is the result of stronger than expected global demand.”

While crude oil values have been on an upslope for months, they recently leaped higher following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as economic sanctions imposed by other countries limit Russia’s involvement in energy markets.

Potash prices have also climbed due to fresh sanctions limiting exports from both Russia and Belarus, the world’s No. 2 and 3 potash-producing countries behind Canada.

“It’s too soon to tell if oil prices will remain high for an extended period and what impact that could have on revenues,” Harpauer said, adding that “because resource prices are so volatile, our government has set a goal of reducing our reliance on resource revenues.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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That deadline, originally March 31, has now been extended to April 14, provincial Ag Minister David Marit and his federal counterpart Marie-Claude Bibeau announced Monday.

The extension comes from a delay in delivery of crop insurance packages to farmers’ addresses, due to “logistical challenges because of the ongoing supply-chain issues posed by the pandemic.”

The unspecified challenges came about after the packages left the offices of Melville-based Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. (SCIC) on Feb. 25, the province said.

As of last Thursday (March 10), the packages have been circulated and distributed to producers’ addresses, so farmers can expect to see those packages in their mailboxes “within the next few days,” the province said.

Producers must select insured crops and coverage levels or make additional changes by April 14 or their coverage will remain the same as the previous year, the province said.

Extensions to the usual end-of-March deadline aren’t new for SCIC. It granted a similar two-week extension in 2020 citing “evolving situations” including the COVID-19 pandemic, in which Saskatchewan’s first case was confirmed March 12 that year. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The Saskatchewan and federal governments on Tuesday announced details for their 2022 crop insurance program — under which average coverage is expected to reach $405 per acre, due to higher commodity prices and increased yield coverage.

Given the 48 per cent increase in coverage, the average total premium under the program will be higher, at $12.05 per acre, up $3.46 from the 2021 level, the province said.

Changes for 2022 include a new “heat adjustment factor” in Saskatchewan’s forage rainfall insurance and corn rainfall insurance programs. The new factor was added as a response to the “extreme-heat temperatures and dry growing conditions” seen in 2021.

The heat adjustment factor this year would kick in when temperatures during the growing season reach 31 C or higher — thus reducing the recorded precipitation amounts in an insured forage or corn grower’s “monthly per cent of normal” calculation.

Specifically, Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. (SCIC) says, one millimetre of rainfall will be deducted from that amount for each day the temperature is above 31 C.

“We appreciate SCIC responding to producers needs to make coverage levels more reflective of increased forage costs and to adjust for moisture loss due to extreme heat,” Kelcy Elford, president of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association, said in the province’s release Tuesday.

Also, SCIC’s Contract Price Option — under which eligible producers can elect to blend their contract prices with the Crop Insurance base price, for higher coverage — will be made available for all commercial crops in 2022.

That means fababeans, fall and spring rye, sunflowers, triticale, winter wheat, extra strong wheat, hard white wheat, khorasan wheat (such as Kamut), chickpeas (all classes), caraway, irrigated dry beans and soybeans — none of which were eligible for the price option in 2021 — can be covered this year.

The Contract Price Option thus “allows producers to establish an insured price reflective of the actual market value they would receive for their production.” Producers using that option will need to select the crops they want covered by March 31, then submit their contracts to SCIC by May 31.

The Contract Price Option in 2022 “could be an attractive option for pulse growers with the new inclusion of chickpeas, soybeans and fababeans,” Saskatchewan Pulse Growers chair Shaun Dyrland said in the province’s release.

Premium rates

Overall, Saskatchewan farmers have until March 31 to apply for, reinstate or cancel crop insurance contracts for 2022, and must select insured crops and coverage levels — or, if need be, make additional changes — by that date.

Growers can contact their local SCIC offices to make such changes, the province said; otherwise their coverage will remain the same as the previous year.

While the average total premium for 2022 will be higher, the province said, the average premium rate will be lower, due to “strong” production levels seen in 2020 — the latest year used in calculating premium rates.

The province’s drought-dented production figures from 2021 won’t be factored into crop insurance premium rates until 2023. –– Glacier FarmMedia Network

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