Justin Girard shows how 100 km/h winds bent the metal frame of a hoop house, destroying the structure.

Catastrophic crop loss highlights need for small-farm insurance

Four years after the Small Scale Farm Manitoba report, crop insurance for small-scale food producers doesn’t seem to be on the province’s radar

It was shaping up to be a banner year for Justin Girard. Hearts and Roots, which Girard runs with wife Britt Embry, is a certified organic farm that sells veggies through farmers’ markets, wholesale and Instagram-worthy subscription boxes. But on July 14, instead of shots of glistening greens or farm dog Merle, Hearts and Roots

Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation refreshes website

Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation refreshes website

There have also been some staff promotions to fill vacancies created by retirements

The Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC) has given its website a fresh look and promoted some veteran employees to replace retiring colleagues. The agency, which administers crop insurance and provincially backed farm lending in Manitoba, updated its website in mid-December. “We wanted to make it mobile friendly and easier for farmers to find information,” David


MASC had a record number of hail claims and payouts in 2016.

Record hail claims, payouts for MASC in 2016

The big white combine took a heavy toll in Manitoba this year

This was a hail of a year for a lot of Manitoba farmers — in fact, it was a record. The Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC) received 4,700 hail claims in 2016 and has so far paid out more than $43 million on destroyed or damaged insured crops, David Koroscil, Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation’s acting

KAP head says crop insurance changes unnecessary

Dan Mazier is skeptical about suggestions recently made by former MASC chair Frieda Krpan

A call for farmers to pay a greater share of crop insurance costs isn’t sitting well with the head of the province’s general farm organization. Dan Mazier, president of the Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP), says he doesn’t like the idea farmers pay more for crop insurance and he doesn’t believe it would reduce crop insurance

On paper whole-farm revenue insurance has a lot going for it: Rick White

The ideal farm safety net program is simple, predictable, non-distorting and effective. Could this be it?

Critics say AgriStability is so complex, its biggest beneficiaries are the nation’s accountants. Most farmers pay a lot of money to accountants to help with their applications and even then they’re none the wiser about possible payments, says Rick White, chief executive officer of the Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA). The CCGA has come up


Frieda Krpan, the former chair of the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC), has some advice for Ralph Eichler, Manitoba’s new agriculture minister.

Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation chair Frieda Krpan resigns

But she’s urging the new government to make sweeping changes

Frieda Krpan has resigned from her role as chair of the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC), but she’s leaving behind some ideas for how the new government can save money. “I think as a new minister, Ralph Eichler has an opportunity to look at some bigger changes,” Krpan said from her home near St. Laurent

Hand and harvester

Editorial: A whole-farm approach

If you think the future of government support for agriculture lies in doing more of the same but only better, you’ll get little comfort from Manitoba’s Agriculture Risk Management Review Task Force report released last week. The 25 recommendations and the supporting appendix report should also make you a little uncomfortable if you think the

One of many crops near Roseisle, Man. hit by severe hail June 27.

MASC explains why sometimes it defers hail claims

Assessing loss is easier when the crop is still young or has set seed and harder in between those two stages

As this summer’s hail claims roll in, the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation’s assessment practices are being questioned by farmers who say the agency is too slow to cut a cheque. (MASC) says its spot loss hail insurance program is similar to what private hail insurance companies offer. But at least one Manitoba farmer disputes that


Ron Kostyshyn

Task force has one year to finish review

As weather events continue to produce multi-year effects, stakeholders are being invited to help suggest ways to improve insurance programs

Early forecasts may indicate spring flooding is unlikely in Manitoba this year, but for producers, high water is still front and centre as they cope with consecutive wet years and limited risk management tools. In response, a task force has now been struck by the province to examine how climate-related risks like flooding can be

flooded agricultural field

Mon. Dec 1. deadline to up EMI coverage, file Harvest Production Reports

There's a $100 late filing fee, plus another penalty for farmers who turn out to be in a claim position

Farmers have until Monday Dec. 1 to select whether they want to bump up next year’s excess moisture insurance coverage to $75 or $100 an acre. Dec. 1 is also the deadline for filing 2014 Harvest Production Reports to the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC). Farmers who miss the Dec. 1 deadline, including those who