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


Another record for insured plantings of soybeans in Manitoba

Another record for insured plantings of soybeans in Manitoba

A prediction that soybeans could challenge canola for top spot doesn't look so far fetched now

In 2013, grain market analyst Bruce Burnett predicted in five years Manitoba farmers would be planting just as many soybeans as canola. The intentionally provocative forecast was made to underscore how the combination of a warmer climate, improved soybean varieties and favourable returns can influence farmers’ planting decisions. But new soybean-planting records have been set

cattle in a pasture

Livestock Insurance Program goes offline

The Western Livestock Insurance Program makes adjustments to be more user friendly to those without Internet access

Manitoba livestock producers are getting new offline options to sign up for price insurance coverage. Until recently the only way to buy a Western Livestock Price Insurance Program (WLPIP) policy was to go on the Internet, activate an account through an online portal and buy a policy online, paying with a credit card. Now that’s


The Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers Association is investing a lot of money in research, including a study on the impact of hail on soybeans.

Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers approve bylaw changes at AGM

Directors can no longer be nominated from the floor and resolutions
need to be submitted by Dec. 1 to be debated at the annual meeting

Nominations for director can no longer be made from the floor of the Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers Association’s annual meeting. And resolutions to the annual meeting must be made by Dec. 1 — more than two months before the association’s annual meeting held during Crop Connect in February. The changes were included in a



Average Manitoba corn yields in 2015 hit a new record high of 136 bushels an acre, based on 99.7 per cent of yield data collected by the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation being keyed in.

Manitoba crop yields above average in 2015

Corn and soybeans set new records at 136 and 39 bushels an acre, based on crop insurance data

2015 was a bumper crop year for Manitoba with farmers setting new records for corn and soybean yields, according to data collected by the crop insurance branch of the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC). Based on 99.7 per cent of yield data from insured farmers entered into MASC’s database, the average yield for corn in

Livestock price insurance payouts triggered for some farmers

Livestock price insurance payouts triggered for some farmers

Some farmers wondered if signing up made sense when prices were near 
record highs

Recent weakening cattle prices have triggered some payouts to Manitoba cattle producers enrolled in the Western Livestock Price Insurance Program. The federal-provincial program was launched in Manitoba in April 2014 to insure cattle and hog prices. While farmers never like lower prices, the good news is the program is helping offset the impact, said Jason Dobbin,


The Raynor’s farmland was completely dishevelled and a number of out buildings were destroyed.

Tornado among several storm events in the southwest

Two rural properties took the brunt of Manitoba's most recent violent weather episode

Displaced bales, crushed crops and chunks of metal scatter fields in the southwest as the area recovers from one of Manitoba’s largest tornadoes in recent years. A low-pressure system that moved in from Montana sparked the extreme weather, which also doused the Virden area with nearly 75 mm of rain. Quarter-sized hail was also reported

MASC estimates Manitoba farmers planted more canola, wheat and soybeans this spring

MASC estimates Manitoba farmers planted more canola, wheat and soybeans this spring

Acres too wet to seed down dramatically from 2014

Plantings of Manitoba’s three biggest acreage crops — canola, wheat and soybeans — are all projected to be higher in 2015, according to the Manitoba Agricultural Service Corporation’s (MASC) latest estimate. Based on assessing 94 per cent of farmers’ seeded acreage reports filed for crop insurance MASC estimates Manitoba farmers this spring sowed 3.2 million