New Crop Insurance features increased coverage

While still carrying a deficit from payments made at the start of the decade, improvements and higher payouts have been approved for the 2007 Crop Insurance Program.

"The primary work that went on in this was really to make sure that the best business risk management possible was provided and to make sure that all of the sides in this, including the farmers and those who are selling crop insurance who have businesses in rural Saskatchewan, that all were listened to clearly, and we tried to make the very best business decision that we could," Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food Minister Mark Wartman said while announcing the program last Thursday.

Among the changes are the introduction of a Variable Price Option, refinements to the Unseeded Acreage feature, plus a change in coverage for crop damage done by gophers.They found gophers were taking seed off before a crop could get established so producers were not eligible for establishment benefit.

"We needed to make sure they were getting covered. It was no fault of the producers and it's just the particular way that gophers do damage to crop. So we needed to adjust the program so that it would meet the needs," Wartman said during the phone conference.

However, Crop Insurance was not expanded to include a spot loss hail program.

"We learned early on, that the program could not return with the same design nor with the same cost to producers that existed in 2001. If it were to be reimplemented into the program, it would cost producers more money, as the federal government will only contribute 20 per cent of the premium for spot loss hail program," he said.

"The private industry is currently providing sound hail insurance to Saskatchewan producers, therefore spot loss hail will not be reintroduced for 2007. However, I will ask the Farm Support Review Committee to continue monitoring the situation, and I will ask the same of the Crop Insurance Corporation."

Wartman noted existing customers will receive personal endorsement packages beginning the week of March 5, and the deadline to apply for or make changes to Crop Insurance coverage is March 31.