Thousands of Manitoba farmers applied for money this summer under the province’s farm disaster assistance package.
The package, which included a $50 per unseeded acre payment, was aimed at farmers affected by too much moisture this spring.
More than 4,000 producers applied to the program, administered by Manitoba Crop Insurance.
The deadline for applications was Aug. 31. The province had already paid out $32.1 million to 2,664 applicants as of that date.
The province budgeted $55 million for the program. It’s estimated that about one million acres of farmland in Manitoba went unseeded this spring because of excess moisture.
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Half of the $50 per unseeded acre is paid by the province. The balance comes through an advance on the Agricultural Income Disaster Assistance program.
Money is also flowing to Saskatchewan farmers who were left with unseeded land because of saturated soils.
As of Sept. 1, Saskatchewan Crop Insurance had paid out $19.5 million to affected farmers who carried crop insurance. Close to 5,500 farmers qualified for the payments of $25 per unseeded acre.
The province also has a supplemental program this year for farmers who struggled to seed waterlogged fields. The program, which offers $25 per unseeded acre, is available to all affected farmers, whether or not they have crop insurance. Under that program, more than $20 million has been paid to 5,177 producers.
The deadline for applying for payment under Saskatchewan’s supplemental program is Sept. 30.
The claims made to Saskatchewan Crop Insurance show that at least 820,000 acres of land went unseeded in the province this spring because of wet weather.
