(Dave Bedard photo)

Saskatchewan forage rainfall insurance to adjust for hot spells

SCIC also expanding crop roster for contract price option

Reading Time: 2 minutes Saskatchewan forage and corn growers whose crops are insured against below-normal rainfall can expect a beneficial bump starting this year if those crops get cooked in high heat. The Saskatchewan and federal governments on Tuesday announced details for their 2022 crop insurance program — under which average coverage is expected to reach $405 per acre, […] Read more

A restoration company vehicle sits in a flooded field at Abbotsford, B.C. on Nov. 30, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Jennifer Gauthier)

AgriRecovery underway for flood-battered B.C. farms

Feds, province put up $228 million

Reading Time: 3 minutes The federal and British Columbia governments’ response to last fall’s destructive flooding now includes what’s said to be the biggest farm disaster recovery package in the province’s history. Provincial Agriculture Minister Lana Popham and her federal counterpart Marie-Claude Bibeau on Monday announced cost-shared funding of $228 million for the Canada-B.C. Flood Recovery for Food Security […] Read more


File photo of an Ontario cherry orchard. (UpdogDesigns/iStock/Getty Images)

Ontario to extend labour-related crop loss coverage

Losses due to COVID-19-related labour disruptions covered

Reading Time: 2 minutes A temporary crop insurance expansion that covers Ontario farms against crop losses due to “on-farm labour disruptions” caused by COVID-19 will be held over for yet another year. Agricorp, the province’s farm program delivery agency, announced in late December the feature first introduced in 2020 will be included again in 2022, at the same coverage […] Read more

File photo of a canola crop south of Ethelton, Sask. in 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

Nexera canola seed to come with heat blast insurance

Corteva's 'Heat Advantage' provides coverage on seed purchased by Oct. 29

Reading Time: 3 minutes Farmers can’t prevent canola flowers from aborting in hot weather resulting in lower yields, but one seed company is providing some insurance against it — as part of the price of the seed. Brevant’s Nexera canola seed comes with a “a first-of-its-kind” insurance policy worth up to $100 an acre to offset yield losses due […] Read more


A recent crop report for Manitoba indicates harvest yields so far this year vary from less than half of normal to normal.

Crop insurance in Manitoba prepared for hefty drought payouts this year

The program, founded in 1960, is designed to be actuarially sound

Reading Time: 4 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – There’s enough money to cover Manitoba crop insurance payouts in the wake of this year’s drought, the worst in years, says David Van Deynze. Despite an early harvest due to dry and hot growing conditions, Van Deynze, chief product officer with the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC), which administers the federal-provincial program, says it’s […] Read more

Manitoba Beef Producers president Tyler Fulton speaks in Winnipeg on July 22, 2021 at a federal/provincial announcement including planned changes to crop insurance against this summer’s drought, alongside federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Winnipeg MP Kevin Lamoureux (r). (Dave Bedard photo)

Manitoba triggers hay disaster benefit

Per-tonne rate lifted to cover feed, transport costs

Reading Time: 2 minutes Manitoba’s crop insurance agency is set to lift the per-tonne rate paid out on insured forage crops to help cover livestock producers’ bills to buy and truck in replacement feed. Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. (MASC) on Thursday announced a 2021 hay disaster benefit to provide another $44 per tonne, for every tonne below coverage, to […] Read more


Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, shown here with Craig Riese (l) of Keystone Agricultural Producers and Manitoba Beef Producers president Tyler Fulton, speaks on July 22, 2021 at The Forks in Winnipeg. (Dave Bedard photo)

Tax deferrals, crop insurance changes en route against drought

Assessments underway for AgriRecovery, minister says

Reading Time: 5 minutes Updated — As the federal government looks to manage impacts of ongoing drought conditions in Canada’s West, producers in parts of five provinces can already expect to be eligible for the livestock tax deferral program. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced Thursday in Winnipeg that producers in drought-designated areas of southern Alberta, southeastern British Columbia, northwestern […] Read more

(Valerie Loiseleux/iStock/Getty Images)

‘Time is ticking’ on drought response for beef cattle sector

'We need answers like yesterday'

Reading Time: 3 minutes As Canada’s beef farmers and ranchers face drought, industry leaders are trying to find ways to secure feed and help those forced to sell rebuild their herds. B.C. ranchers are dealing with high temperatures that have “parched the grass that was there,” Kevin Boone, general manager of B.C. Cattlemen’s Association, said during a Canadian Cattlemen’s […] Read more


Farmer and Grainews columnist Toban Dyck inspects wheat on July 6, 2021 near Winkler, Man., where hot and dry weather has led to thin, uneven stands. (Photo: Reuters/Rod Nickel)

Saskatchewan raises salvage threshold for parched crops

Stock watering program also boosted; APAS, Tories' ag critic had called for more drought aid

Reading Time: 3 minutes Saskatchewan’s provincial crop insurance agency is raising the yield threshold at which drought-damaged crops can be grazed, baled for greenfeed or cut for silage with no penalty on future coverage. Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. said Wednesday it would double the “low yield appraisal” threshold values on cereal or pulse crop acres put to feed. SCIC […] Read more

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Saskatchewan to pare school tax mill rate for farmland

EPT mill rates to rise for residential, other properties

Reading Time: 2 minutes Saskatchewan’s latest budget taps down the education property tax (EPT) mill rate it sets on farmland, while raising those mill rates on other property classes. The provincial government, in Tuesday’s budget, set the provincewide EPT mill rate on agricultural land for 2021 at 1.36, down slightly from the previous rate of 1.43. EPT mill rates […] Read more