An AgriRecovery program for flooded Manitoba farmers is still on the table, but they shouldn’t get their hopes too high, warns Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) president Doug Chorney.
AgriRecovery is supposed to help farmers following disasters when existing programs such as AgriStability, AgriInvest and AgriInsurance fall short.
Discussions about AgriRecovery continue between the Manitoba and federal governments, Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn told reporters during a teleconference Aug. 14.
“I met with (federal agriculture) Minister (Gerry) Ritz in Chicago (last week),” Kostyshyn said. “We had the conversation as well in Chicago and all I can tell you right now is we will just have to stay in tune for a potential announcement when we talk about AgriRecovery.”
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A “potential announcement” is good news, Chorney said in an interview Oct. 16.
“We are encouraged to hear the minister saying they have expectations of some type of AgriRecovery program and we look forward to hearing what that outcome is, keeping in mind we’ve been told repeatedly by federal and provincial officials that insurable losses are likely going to be deemed not eligible for AgriRecovery,” he added.
Manitoba crop farmers have Excess Moisture Insurance (EMI) that kicks in when their land is too wet to seed. Nine hundred and eighty thousand acres were too wet to seed in 2014, triggering $63 million in EMI payouts on about 2,400 claims, the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation announced earlier this year.
In addition, farmers have the option to buy down their EMI deductible and pay extra to increase the standard coverage from $50 an acre to $75 or $100 — options KAP requested following extensive land flooding in 2011.
Although farmers have EMI, Chorney says the program is less helpful to repeatedly flooded farmers because after every claim the deductible increases five per cent. In addition, support under AgriStability has also been cut, he said.
“This makes it challenging for these risk management tools to work effectively,” Chorney said. “In those cases we think government should address that. A 25 per cent deductible along with the cost of the premiums; it’s a huge cost.”
Farmers should also be compensated for human-caused flooding, Chorney has said in previous interviews.
Earlier this year KAP estimated two million acres of Manitoba farmland were damaged by excessive moisture — one million acres too wet to seed and another million of badly damaged crops. KAP estimates farmer losses at $1 billion.
AgriRecovery must be requested by a provincial government and demonstrated to Ottawa it’s warranted.
“I continue to remain in close contact with Minister Kostyshyn,” Ritz wrote in an email Aug. 29.
“Our government’s full suite of Business Risk Management programs remains available to support farmers.”
