Alberta farmers will receive an additional break on their crop insurance premiums this spring.
The 20 percent reduction will lower the average $8 an acre premium for crop insurance with hail coverage by about $1.60, said Merle Jacobson, vice-president of risk management with Agriculture Financial Services Corp.
With growing input costs and poor prices, the department in charge of the province’s crop insurance wanted to make sure crop insurance was still affordable for farmers.
“It was really targeted at, with all the increased input costs, how can we make sure this is still affordable,” Jacobson said. “We don’t want people making the decision that they’re going to take a big chance.”
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The reductions on production insurance premiums will help make the outlook for this year’s growing season a bit brighter, said Alberta Agriculture minister Doug Horner.
“It’s part and parcel of our three-point grains and oilseeds recovery framework,” said Horner, who is looking at new crop uses, technologies, varieties and marketing tools as ways to help farmers survive in the long term.
The $20 million cost of the premium reduction will be absorbed within existing provincial government budgets.
