Crop insurance adjusters are donning rubber boots to assess flood damage in Saskatchewan’s southwest.
The Swift Current office of the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation has received 250 hail and 20 flood claims since the storm hit Vanguard on July 3.
“We’re not willing to say the worst is over,” said office manager Kelly Erickson.
The reason the flood claims are so low is that farmers have to wait until after harvest to file a yield loss claim related to flooding, unless an entire crop is destroyed by the floodwaters.
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Farmers can insure anywhere from 50 to 80 percent of their average yields on any major crop. Crop insurance will top up the difference between the flood-damaged yield and the guaranteed yield.
“Unless you lose all of that crop now, you wait until after harvest and we pay the difference,” said Erickson.
Most crops in the affected area are insured because they haven’t experienced drought there for a long time and because premiums dropped last year.
“The spot-loss hail program has been very popular.”
Erickson said adjusters from the Swift Current office would be heading into the fields this week. There were some attempts last week, but much of the land in question was still inaccessible.
Claims involving chickpea acreage will be processed first because it’s a new and high-value crop. There are about 25 such claims.
Hal Cushon, director of policy and program development with Saskatchewan Agriculture, said crop insurance is the main disaster assistance tool available for flooded farmers.
“It’s the program that’s in place to cover production losses and clearly, for most of the farmers there, the main issue right now is the production loss.”
AIDA kicks in
The Agricultural Income Disaster Assistance program, which assists farmers whose margins fall below 70 percent of their historical average, is also available but it operates on a one-year lag.
“Any income problems caused by the most recent flood would be part of next year’s claims.”
Newly appointed Saskatchewan agriculture minister Clay Serby toured the flooded area last week and advised municipal officials that they would qualify for the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program.
That program won’t provide much help for individual farmers, said Cushon. It is designed to help municipalities repair infrastructure like roads and bridges.
“It doesn’t cover anything that can be insured. It doesn’t cover economic losses,” said Cushon.
Aside from what money they can get from crop insurance and AIDA, farmers will have to rely on private insurance to cover grain stored in bins and damage to homes and vehicles.
Saskatchewan Government Insurance has received 40 claims amounting to almost $750,000 associated with the storm. Those claims are primarily for damage caused by sewer backup.
“There is no coverage for actual flood damage,” said Doug Campbell, assistant vice-president of claims.
He said grain stored in bins may be covered depending on the type of insurance involved.
