PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. (Staff) – Manitoba farmers will likely get around $155 per tonne for red spring wheat this year.
But they shouldn’t expect to get that much back from crop insurance if they lose their wheat to Mother Nature. It will insure wheat for only $132 per tonne.
Manitoba Crop Insurance Corporation announced last week it can afford to insure only 85 percent of market prices forecast by Agriculture Canada.
Brian Manning, general manager of the corporation, said high prices and tight government budgets are the reasons behind the cap.
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Manning said he and his staff met with about 40 farm groups in a closed session here last week to give their opinions for a national review of crop insurance.
He said farmers were surprised when they learned crops won’t be insured at market prices any more.
“Once they realized the rigidity of the federal safety net funding to crop insurance, then they understood that something has to be capped,” Manning said.
“We don’t want to limit participation or deny people access into the program, so … you have to lower your risk on the market price side.”
Barry Routledge, a farmer who’s part of the national review committee, said the cap will be an issue for some producers.
“It’s a very hard thing to accept that you’re going to take less than market price,” Routledge said. “It’s whether producers will accept the reality that there’s less … government dollars going into the program now.”
The farmers at a public consultation session held the day after the private meeting did not take issue with the cap. However, fewer than 10 farmers came to the meeting.
Manning said he wasn’t disappointed with the low number. “I view a low turnout to a public meeting as pretty well contentment with the program,” he said. “If you had a major concern, this hall would be full.”
Routledge said he didn’t expect many farmers to show up because the corporation meets regularly with producers and farm groups.
“I guess you could say probably that Manitoba is a long way ahead of what the other provinces are and what they want crop insurance to look like,” he said.
