Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC) has paid more than $27.5 million in excess moisture insurance claims under the Agri Insurance program as a result of the extreme wet weather this spring, Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Minister Stan Struthers said Aug. 9.

“This payment is the second highest in the history of the Excess Moisture Insurance (EMI) program. Almost 2,400 claims have been filed on approximately 634,000 acres of unseeded land and 98 per cent of claims had been paid by July 31. Our farmers are experiencing challenging times and I am very pleased that we are ensuring money gets into the hands of producers,” he said.

EMI statistics show that 2010 was the second-wettest spring since the start of the program 10 years ago.

Starting with the 2000 crop year, farmers enrolled in AgriInsurance have been automatically insured for the basic EMI coverage of $50 per acre.

Manitoba farmers are also eligible this year to receive an additional $30 per acre for unseeded and flooded acres from the 2010 Canada-Manitoba Excess Moisture Assistance Program, which is an AgriRecovery program, to rehabilitate affected annual cropland. It is expected this emergency assistance program will provide an additional $60 million.

As of the Aug. 3 deadline, more than 4,500 applications for the AgriRecovery program have been received. Under the program, producers receive up to $30 per acre in assistance to adopt measures to protect, rehabilitate and manage affected cropland.