Intercropping, a practice where two or more crop types are grown on the same farmland simultaneously, is becoming more popular in Saskatchewan.
So popular that the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. (SCIC) is stepping up efforts to gather more intercropping data so yield potential, producer returns and production risks can be assessed more precisely.
SCIC officials say the new emphasis on data collection will help to determine if new crop insurance programs and new coverage options should be introduced for intercrop producers.
“At SCIC, we acknowledge that intercropping is a new and an innovative cropping technique and that … the acres dedicated to growing more than one crop on the same land has been expanding,” said Jeff Morrow, vice-president of operations with SCIC.
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“We know there’s a lot of research going on into what are the appropriate mixes of crops, the seeding rates and the seeding methods.…
“We need to be able to collect some of that information so that we can understand what their yield potential is.”
In the past, SCIC has offered insurance on intercropped acres but premiums and coverage levels were based on traditional mono-cropped acres and applied as a proxy.
Beginning in 2018, intercropped acres will be covered under SCIC’s diversification option, which will allow crop insurance to gather more data and get a better picture of the risks and returns associated with intercropping.
Morrow said SCIC still does not have a good handle on how many intercropped acres were insured in 2018, but acreage is rising.
Some growers in the province are growing three different crop types on the same piece of land.
As a clearer picture emerges, new coverage options that are custom designed for different intercropping mixtures may be rolled out.
“What we want to do, through this diversification option is … collect information on those acres … and get a better idea of the risks, the yield potentials and that sort of thing.”
