Young farmers are being unfairly penalized because they are not allowed to separate crop insurance from their parents, says a young Alberta farmer.
Tim Bruun, who farms with his father, Henrik, near Millet, said prohibiting him from having independent crop insurance guarantees means he will get no money if he has a crop failure.
“If I am under my dad’s insurance and I have a failure, I have to take his averages and won’t get any money,” said Bruun, who farms partly with his father, Henrik.
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Agricultural Financial Services Corp., which is in charge of the provincial crop insurance program, gave Bruun a one-year conditional trial last year but rejected his separate insurance after reviewing his paperwork at the end of the year.
Bruun said AFSC insists he must be “legally, financially and operationally independent” from his father to get separate crop insurance.
“They won’t tell me how to make myself independent,” said Bruun, who farms slightly less than 200 acres and owns farm equipment both independently and jointly with his father.
Henrik said young farmers are encouraged to farm but are hobbled by strict crop insurance rules.
“Young and beginning farmers need the availability of independent crop insurance in order to protect their business in the event of crop loss or damage,” he wrote in a letter.
He said he and his son haven’t been able to find out what criteria they need to meet to make themselves independent of each other and qualify for separate coverage.
Tim said he can get bank financing separate from his father, but is not allowed separate crop insurance.
Chris Dyck, senior manager of business risk management with AFSC, said a son or daughter must be totally independent of their parents to have their own insurance.
“They must be totally independent operators and call their own shots,” said Dyck.
AFSC suggests adding the son or daughter’s name to the parent’s existing contract if they are part of a larger farming operation, have just bought their first quarter section of land or are farming part time.
Young farmers who share equipment but are mostly independent can have an associate contract.
Dyck said fathers or sons who are likely to be in a claim position should ask the other party to conduct a pre-assessment before harvest and bin their grain separately.
He said separate crop insurance hasn’t been a huge issue, despite the fact that lots of fathers and sons farm together.
However, the agency plans to review it this year.
“In our strategic plan, we have identified it as something we want to take another look at,” he said.
