Neil Hamilton of MASC is retiring this spring.

MASC president and CEO set to retire

Neil Hamilton’s 36-year career in agriculture includes 28 years at crop insurance and the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation

Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC) president and CEO Neil Hamilton is retiring June 2. Although planned for a while, it still wasn’t an easy decision, Hamilton said in an interview April 24. “There are certain things I am going to miss about it, but it’s just time probably for someone else to take charge and

(Government of Alberta via Flickr)

Alberta pledges ‘streamlined’ crop insurance inspections

Alberta’s provincial crop insurance agency will “streamline” its inspection procedures to better deal with unharvested acres from last fall, the government said Wednesday. The announcement from provincial Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier follows a conference call with officials from Agriculture Financial Services Corp. (AFSC) and from the province’s wheat, barley, canola and pulse grower commissions. “Balancing


Photo: File

Alberta farm groups want provincial action on unharvested crops

A coalition of Alberta farm groups calling itself “Team Alberta” is meeting with the province’s agriculture minister and representatives from the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) on Wednesday seeking immediate action regarding approximately one million unharvested acres still sitting in farmers’ fields. They are recommending that farmers in the hardest hit areas of Alberta be

Yield Manitoba, a supplement in today's Manitoba Co-operator, is a valuable benchmarking tool for farmers, says Doug Wilcox, the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation’s manager of research administration.

Yield Manitoba 2017 valuable tool for Manitoba farmers

The 18th edition of the annual publication is a supplement in today's issue of the Manitoba Co-operator

Manitoba farmers, on average, reaped a bumper crop in 2016, despite a record number of hail claims and excessive rain in some areas. A few new yield records were set and most major crops, except for field peas, yielded above the 10-year average. This information comes from a breakdown of yields by crop variety provincially


canola field in bloom

Average Manitoba 2017 crop insurance coverage up, premiums down

AgriInsurance covers 90 per cent of annual crops seed in this province

AgriInsurance coverage in Manitoba is expected to exceed $2.6 billion this year — the second-highest level on record — on 9.6 million acres of land, Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler said Jan. 17 while speaking here at Ag Days. While coverage is increasing an average seven per cent, premium rates are down an average of four

Crop management decisions balance agronomics, economics

Crop management decisions balance agronomics, economics

Knowing your numbers is the foundation of good decision-making on your farm

What’s it cost to grow a bushel of wheat, canola, soybeans or corn on your operation? If you can’t answer that question, it’s going to be hard to make informed decisions about how to manage your fields. That’s because production, marketing and management starts with planning, and calculating the cost of production (COP) is the


The use of cover crops such as radish has spread rapidly in Ontario in the past five years. Ontario’s environmental commissioner wants to see that continue. (John Greig photo)

OMAFRA seen needing a soil health ‘tuneup’

Ontario’s environmental commissioner is calling on the provincial ag ministry to rebuild its soil health expertise and find ways to encourage farmers to adopt soil-friendly production practices, to deal with what she calls a “catastrophic” loss in soil organic matter levels. The report recommends better soil carbon level monitoring and 10-year programs to financially encourage

Unharvested grain cash advance option available

Alteration of program makes advances for unharvested grain available for the first time

If you’ve been unable to harvest your crops this fall, you may still be eligible for a cash advance under a revised application deadline. For this program year the Canadian Canola Growers’ Association (CCGA) will accept new seeded cash advance applications until March 2017. “The deadline extension means farmers have a new option for generating


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

2017 excess moisture insurance deadline Nov. 30

2017 excess moisture insurance deadline Nov. 30

Farmers who want to increase their EMI coverage, or buy down their deductible, have until the end of the month

The deadline to make changes to 2017 excess moisture insurance (EMI) coverage is Nov. 30. That’s also the deadline for new farmers who haven’t had crop insurance before to get higher EMI coverage rather than just the basic. Excessively wet fields this fall increase the possibility that some won’t get seeded before the Manitoba Agricultural