Hello, Saskatchewan crop insurance here, welcome back to 1982.
Can we fax you some information? Sorry we can’t scan and e-mail, we don’t have that technology yet. Is that summer fallow or stubble? We have to enter those numbers manually, you can’t see that online. But there is that new fangled crop connect, although it runs so slow and cumbersome that it has the authentic feel of a Commodore 64.
Ahhh, the sights and sounds of a Saskatchewan crop insurance office at insurance deadline time. I am actually going to have to drive to the office to be able to see my insurance numbers.
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Granted, my case may be a bit more complicated than some. I have not been taking insurance because of the low coverage levels, but have been submitting voluntary yield data to try bring up my guarantee.
However, they don’t actually enter those numbers until you buy the insurance….I have the nerve to ask what it is I am buying. They reluctantly agree to manually enter the numbers and tell me, all the while complaining about how much work it is to enter the numbers. I tell them that they have invented computers now that handle data easily and don’t require things to be entered multiple times. Is it my fault they have such a cumbersome system?
…Now I have my numbers, but wait, why are they so low? My barley yield number is lower than anything I remember submitting in the last 10 years. I phone them back and ask why is my barley yield only 44 bu. per acre when I have never submitted anything that low? They say, well, in 1998 you sent in a 40. What? 1998? What year is it in your office?
They go on to explain that they no longer use 10 year averages, they do a 90-10 calculation. Which essentially means because barley yields were low before I was born, I can never get up to my actual level of production.
If I grew 70 bu. per acre barley for the next 10 years, they would still calculate my average at 60 then guarantee 80 percent of that which is 48….
Scrap all the administration, close all the offices, give them a computer and offer weather-based insurance…. Let the producers choose whatever scenario they like. They can insure for any amount of rain, frost-free days, and hail.
There is lots of weather data, the risks can be calculated easily and a premium calculated. I bet if we cut all this administration and huge amount of work to enter yield numbers, the costs saved could probably fund the insurance.
Colin Rosengren,Midale, Sask.
