Saskatchewan farmers should not expect ad hoc assistance for weather-related disasters in 2012, agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud said today.
While announcing details of the crop insurance program for the year, the minister stressed that governments will not provide an AgriRecovery payment such as last year’s excess moisture program.
Instead, the province is giving producers the option to buy additional unseeded acreage coverage.
That benefit normally provides $70 per acre. Last year it was topped up by $30 through AgriRecovery.
“I think this year what the difference is, we’re giving producers the option to buy up the additional $15 or $30 extra coverage, which really in a way replaces the excess moisture payment that producers got last year,” Bjornerud said.
Producers will have to pay 53 cents per acre for the additional $15, or $1.06 per acre to obtain $30 more coverage.
Generally, crop insurance coverage is going up to an average $174 per acre on the strength of grain prices. Premiums will also go up to an average $8.91 per acre from $8.72.
Commercial fruit growers will be able to obtain coverage to replace trees. They will be eligible for $3.50 per tree for young trees that fail to establish or $10 per tree for trees four to six years old that require replacement due to natural causes such as flooding.
The establishment benefit has been increased from $20 to $25 per acre for oats, canaryseed, fall rye, spring rye and triticale.
Yield cushioning, which limits the impact of consecutive poor growing seasons on coverage, has been extended to forage.
