Manitoba’s final hail claim count was above the five-year average, but it’s not as serious as expected earlier this year.
In mid-December, the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation reported 1,587 payable claims worth about $33.6 million for the 2023 season.
Why it matters: Early hail concerns tapered off as the season ticked over into late summer.
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That number hovers above the 1,280 averaged yearly by MASC from 2018 to 2022.
Compared to the number of hail calls staff got this year, however, the final count of actionable claims represents a significant drop. As of Aug. 28, MASC had received 1,830 calls.
That number included calls that ultimately fell below the five per cent crop loss threshold needed for payment to kick in.
That kind of attrition is normal, said David Van Deynze, MASC’s chief product officer.
“When there’s light damage, producers call, as we’d expect and as we want them to, and then we go do an inspection and we say, ‘you know, we’re finding some damage. It’s one, two, three per cent … so, sorry, you don’t have a payable claim’,” he said.
The final count also becomes less alarming when looking at Manitoba’s hail history, he added.
“It’s probably about average if we look out a little bit of a longer-term, I would say. If we looked back maybe 10 years or so, then in that, 1,800 to 2,000 payable claims is pretty normal for us,” he said.
MASC’s five-year average included significant swing years. Totals in 2021 in particular were significantly low. The agency reported only 522 claims that year, while the previous year had marked only 912. Last year also fell below the average, at 1,053 claims.
In contrast, both 2018 and 2019 blew past the average. Manitoba farmers got paid on 1,907 MASC hail claims in 2018, a number that jumped to 2,007 in 2019.
Stormy start
The start of the season seemed to herald a worse hail year than what materialized.
By July 20, MASC had received 1,206 hail calls, compared to 513 at the same time in 2022. The culprit was a string of early season thunderstorms, some of which impacted the same farmer and, in some cases, the same field several times.
One such storm, in early June, resulted in dramatic images of demolished siding in the southwestern town of Oak River and pummelled fields west and northwest of Brandon. A similar storm hit the same area in early July.
Gilbert Plains, Swan River and Kleefeld in eastern Manitoba were among other areas with significant hail in that period.
“It started out a little heavier than a lot of years do,” Van Deynze said. “A little more activity in June when it was quite hot and quite a few thunderstorms and that sort of thing … I think earlier in the year [we] were maybe a little bit nervous that we were in for an above-average year, but then things quieted down as we got into the later part of July and into August.”
Harvest was also blissfully quiet.
The season was “challenging in some ways, especially because of somewhat significant early-year loss,” he said. “But, all things considered, it went through as a successful year for Manitoba, and I think producers were able to get their crop off.
“There wasn’t as much hail in and around that harvest timeline as there is in some years, so that’s always a good thing from an insurance provider’s perspective. Those are always challenging times to try and get the fieldwork done before the combines hit the field.”
CCHA
Hail was widespread enough that the Canadian Crop Hail Association noted high demand for insurance in Western Canada.
In a Dec. 5 release, the association noted its members had expanded capacity in 2023. In total, the hail industry provided Prairie farmers with $18 billion worth in coverage.
“Our member companies successfully avoided the early sales closure we had in 2022 by increasing capacity to match very high sales volume between May and June,” association president Scott McQueen said.
“I’m proud of the work we did this season and I encourage producers to contact a CCHA company soon to help with planning for next year.”
The association said most companies on its roster were able to offer insurance up to the Aug. 1 deadline.
In Manitoba, the CCHA reported $54.3 million in farmer payments, a number that includes claims from MASC, as well as private insurance providers.
“It continues to be a good, healthy, competitive environment for hail insurance in Manitoba,” Van Deynze said.
