Crop insurance claims in Alberta are a fraction of what they were in 2002.
Merle Jacobson, senior manager of insurance operations at Agriculture Financial Services Corp., said the company will pay producers $170 million on 12,000 claims.
That compares to $800 million on 30,000 claims in 2002, a year in which many farmers had complete writeoffs for crops.
Jacobson said the post-harvest claims looked a lot different this time around.
“Lots of producers are just short of their coverage, just a little bit under.”
An unusually high number of claims came in the hail category. One storm that travelled from Edmonton to St. Paul and another that swept from Olds to Provost caused a total of $64 million in damage.
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“That is probably the second highest (hail payout) we have seen in our history,” said Jacobson.
There was also a lot of activity under the new spring price endorsement program, which protects farmers against drops in commodity prices. It paid out $85 million.
“The large majority of the crops did see a drop in the price, so that program will be paying out a substantial amount,” he said.
Aside from those two insurance categories it was a slow year for claims, leading to a healthier income statement for Agriculture Financial Services Corp.
The corporation had dipped into the red ink after last year’s extraordinary drought-related payouts.
“We might actually be able to pull it out of the deficit,” said Jacobson.
Asked about the possibility of rate increases next year, Jacobson said AFSC is trying to stabilize year-to-year fluctuations so the maximum hike farmers will see is 10 percent.
