WINNIPEG – Manitoba farmers will pay more for their Gross Revenue Insurance Plan this year, but not as much as they might have paid.
The Manitoba and federal governments agreed to extend the program past its five-year term until at least the 1996-97 crop year to avoid imposing heavy premium increases on producers.
The combined GRIP and crop insurance programs paid out nearly $385 million in compensation to the province’s farmers last year because of heavy rains, flooding and disease losses.
“The premiums paid by farmers in 1994-95 will be far lower than they would have been if the province had allowed GRIP to be discontinued after the original end date of March 31, 1996,” said crop insurance corporation general manager Brian Manning.
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It will cost a farmer who also has crop insurance about $8.50 to insure a target revenue of about $120 per acre for wheat. That’s about one percent more than last year’s premium, corporation spokesman Herb Sulkers said in an interview.
That premium would have been more than $12 if the program had not been extended, he said.
Prices up, supports down
Even so, premiums are up and most support prices are down, a reflection of the 15-year Indexed Moving Average price used to determine support prices dropping high-price years from the 1970s and including low-price years of the 1990s.
Other changes include:
- Lentil and corn prices will be based solely on Manitoba market prices to reflect the province’s unique market conditions in those crops. For example, Manitoba produces more Eston lentils than other prairie provinces, and the Manitoba market for grain corn is different from that in Alberta, where most of the Western Canadian grain corn is produced.
- Buckwheat support levels will increase because the grade guaranteed has been changed from No. 3 to No. 2.
- Triticale coverage will decrease because the calculation formula has been changed to more accurately reflect market prices.
- Feed wheat support levels will increase because coverage will be based solely on marketings of semi-dwarf wheats.
- Soybean insurance has been discontinued because of low producer participation.
