Honey, soybeans, navy beans and camelina are among the crops eligible for insurance in Saskatchewan in 2010.
The four crops were announced Wednesday as additions to the province’s crop insurance program. Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. has also added flax, lentils and alfalfa seed to its Contract Price Option.
The provincial and federal governments, which jointly fund SCIC’s programs, also confirmed that new initiatives introduced last year coming out of the province’s major crop insurance review will continue.
Those include yield cushioning, which becomes a permanent feature of Saskatchewan’s crop insurance programming after its introduction in 2009 as a pilot program.
Read Also
Entomologist tests trap crops and marigolds to repel flea beetles at an Ag in Motion
An Agriculture Canada entomologist is experimenting with trap crops and marigolds at an Ag in Motion demonstration cropplot
The cushioning feature is meant to soften the impact of consecutive poor growing seasons, such as a prolonged drought, on a farmer’s coverage level.
During the pilot program, Melville-based SCIC looked at about 2,000 customers who posted low yields consecutively from 2005 to 2007, giving most who had yields below 70 per cent of their long-term individual average in 2006 and 2007 a four to eight per cent yield increase. Those with yields below 70 per cent from 2005 to 2007 would get a six to 10 per cent increase.
Coverage per acre
Saskatchewan farmers’ premiums will drop by about 16 per cent on average in 2010, because of above-average crops over the past several years and lower crop prices this year, SCIC said.
Due to these lower crop prices, though, farmers can also expect their coverage to drop by about 10 per cent on average in 2010. However, the agency noted, “this is still the third highest coverage level per acre ever offered” by SCIC
The deadline for Saskatchewan’s farmers to apply for, make changes to, or cancel their 2010 crop insurance contract is March 31.
Murray Purcell, a farmer from Pike Lake, Sask. and chairman of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, hailed the addition of navy beans and soybeans and the contract price option for lentils, saying those moves “will help our industry continue to grow in this province.”
David Marit, a councillor in the RM of Willow Bunch and president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), added in the province’s release that the permanent addition of yield cushioning “will help producers manage their risk, diversify and compete in the global marketplace.”
The new coverage for honey is also appreciated, said Calvin Parsons, a beekeeper at Meskanaw, Sask. and president of the Saskatchewan Beekeepers Association, also in the province’s release.
“This coverage, coupled with the previously announced compensation for bear damage, will help beekeepers manage their risks and attract young people to this important industry.”
