The project will use the South Saskatchewan River Operational Model (SSROM) to determine how to best develop infrastructure to benefit Albertans, said Margo Jarvis Redelback, executive director of the Alberta Irrigation Districts Association.

The SSROM has been developed to provide predictive modelling in the basin, drawing together information from its three main river systems: the Bow, Oldman and South Saskatchewan.

Redelback said the AIDA project will use the tool to put together the puzzle pieces of the different needs in the basin to develop a picture of how to best evolve projects that will support socio-economic development under different climatic conditions.

As a result of the SSROM work, including recent updates, Redelback said it was time to sit down with stakeholders and develop updated strategies.

“My sector, in particular, felt that it was important to go through another exercise that looked at how best to enhance water management to maintain and extend economic development in the SSRB,” she said.

With just about every major economic driver in southern Alberta tied to the basin, as well as population growth, Redelback said this project will be able to collect information from proposed projects and measure the different impacts to sectors in the system.

That includes examining proposals that have been advanced in recent years, such as a new dam upstream of Calgary, the Eyremore Dam near Brooks and expansion of irrigation in the Oyen region.

“What this current project does is brings a number of different stakeholders together to look at those projects, allows stakeholders to propose additional new options or projects and allows everybody to sit around and input those strategies into the model,” she said.

With those inputs, the project will be able to stress test the initiatives against current demand and seed how they would interact in combination with each other under different river stream flow scenarios.

“You kind of get to play and say, ‘I have an idea and I’d like to see how it fits in with how water is managed through the entire basin,’ ” said Redelback.

That may result in benefits or potential negative impacts on supply, she added.

“It’s a safe place to evaluate and look at what the model gives you in terms of impacts to flow regimes, shortages and things like that,” she said.

Unlike some academic river modelling, Redelback said the SSROM provides a more current dataset based on up-to-date information from the major stakeholders using the basin.

“It’s essentially in line with what the water users are using today, within the last year or two,” she said.

Additionally, various scenarios can be played out quickly — in minutes — among numerous stakeholders plugging in different projects.

“That’s the strength in the project — the collaborative nature with people from all different sectors at the table and everybody is looking, learning and understanding how complex water management is,” said Redelback.

The provincial government is also backing further utilization of the SSROM, recently awarding WaterSMART a contract to use the tool to help develop strategies in Alberta if drought conditions continue.

– Alex McCuaig is a reporter with The Western Producer.

The post Project to help water users improve watershed planning appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The province says at least parts of the province are facing risks of severe drought conditions in part due to warm and dry winter conditions brought on by the El Niño weather pattern.

The Water Advisory Committee will be made up of six members with experience in the agricultural and irrigation sector along with Indigenous, industry and rural and urban issues.

The committee will be advising Alberta’s environment minister based on information gleaned from community leaders.

It will include:

• Justin Wright, Medicine Hat MLA 
• Paul McLauchlin, president of Rural Municipalities of Alberta
• Ian Anderson, former chief executive officer of pipeline company Trans Mountain
• Alex Ostrop, chair of the Alberta Irrigation Districts Association
• Jack Royal, CEO of the Blackfoot Confederacy Tribal Council
• Tanya Thorn, Okotoks mayor

– Alex McCuaig is a reporter with The Western Producer.

The post Alberta forms drought advisory committee appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Inside, the need for that type of precipitation was laid bare in order to avoid a water shortage this year.

The numbers tell the tale as to how badly needed are the same spring snow and rain events that rescued southern Alberta from the serious impacts of drought in 2001, the last time the region faced a similar situation.

Dennis Matis, Oldman basin infrastructure manager with Alberta Agriculture, warned during his presentation at the irrigation conference that the variability of mountain runoff periods is something those in the irrigation sector will need to prepare for in the future.

“Last year, all the (snow) pillows ran off a month ahead of time. In my 30-year plus career, I’ve never seen that before — all of the pillows,” he said. “Two years ago, we saw about 160 decametres — which a lot of water, about half the Oldman reservoir — (run off) over the November to March period during the winter.”

At the end of last summer, Matis described the situation on the South Saskatchewan River at Medicine Hat as falling below water management objectives.

“When things were getting pretty tight, I made a concerted effort to talk to the powers that be and (ask), ‘can we go below that objective’ because things were so dire.”

There were concerns that the system wouldn’t be able to meet municipal water supplies over the winter.

“It was getting that way.”

Alberta was able to meet its obligations to send half the natural flow of the South Saskatchewan River Saskatchewan with room to spare. However, it was a diminished quantity from previous years and the least amount in the past two decades while demand in Alberta came close to reaching g all-time highs.

“The demand was hot and heavy. It wasn’t a record year but well above average,” he said.

The LNID (Lethbridge Northern Irrigation District) had the second highest demand in the past 30 years.”

That demand was complicated by a leaky headworks canal that had been repaired, “but the fix didn’t work the first time around.”

Contractors are currently working on a permanent fix using a liner replacement that is expected to be completed this spring.

While outlining some of the mountain snowpack conditions that are among the lowest seen in a generation, Matis stressed the province has been at this point in the winter in the past. There was a spring recovery in previous dry years that can happen again this season, he added.

That doesn’t mean the current situation isn’t serious.

“We have been in several years — I’d say from 2015 onward — of below normal supply. Maybe one year is an exception in the last seven years. The upper Oldman was the second lowest inflow (historically),” he said.

In presenting current projections for this spring along the Oldman and St. Mary rivers, Matis said even if precipitation and runoff capture are at median levels, southern Alberta will be in good shape. Low levels on both could lead to a worst-case scenario.

“If we get median supply on the southern tributaries, we’re just under 70 percent of full, which is very palatable,” he said.

Matis said the province will be pulling out all the stops to ensure as much water as possible will be captured during runoff events.

That includes the arduous task of pulling out snow and ice from canals to capture runoff if it comes early.

“This is very costly, but everything is on the table right now,” said Matis.

The Alberta government — particularly the environment ministry — has been driving home the need to prepare for this upcoming season, pushing the need for development of water sharing agreements that will allow for all stakeholders to access the resource.

It’s also convened a drought command team while contracting a private firm to develop enhanced modeling of the different scenarios that might play out this year.

David Westwood, general manager of the St. Mary River Irrigation District (SMRID), commended the government’s actions.

“I like the fact that they are being conciliatory and reaching out to the users, opposed to trying to come up with a prescriptive plan. Implementing that on the users wouldn’t be as efficient than asking for input,” he said.

It’s a sentiment Westwood said he’s hearing across different water-using industrial sectors and municipalities outside of irrigation districts.

As for SMRID, which is facing some of the most severe consequences if conditions don’t change, Westwood said it remains committed to expanding irrigation area. A ratepayer plebiscite in 2022 approved increasing irrigated area by 80,000 acres, although Westwood said there will be a pause after the initial 15,000 acres.

That was the plan from the beginning, before the stress put on the system last season, he added.

Westwood said the district will be presenting its allocations to its members during its annual general meeting in April, hinting that it will be a more conservative estimate than usual to avoid tahe allocation rollbacks seen in 2023.

It’s not just Alberta that will face significant impacts if Mother Nature doesn’t help out the river level situation this spring.

In a statement, Saskatchewan’s Water Security Agency (WSA) said Lake Diefenbaker, the largest reservoir on the South Saskatchewan River, is anticipating downstream outflow reductions in the spring.

That effort will allow for early storage to be accumulated by April, which would usually be seen in May.

The WSA will be conducting snow surveys in February at 130 locations to help understand what the expected runoff and moisture levels will be going into the spring.

– Alex McQuaig is a reporter with The Western Producer.

The post Prairie water users watch mountain snowpack appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

More than $325 million was paid through AFSC’s Moisture Deficiency Insurance program, nearly three times the amount provided two years ago.

“We went through one of the worst droughts in a long time and it’s good to know that AFSC was there to support producers, which is so rewarding to us,” said Leslie McEachern, AFSC product coordinator.

Currently low soil moisture conditions may improve before spring, but McEachern stressed the importance of signing up for insurance before the Feb. 29 deadline.

“If someone doesn’t carry insurance, they might not know what the coverage levels are, what it’s going to cost, there might be some misconceptions there, they might feel it’s too expensive, it’s not going to cover me for enough,” she said. “But my biggest suggestion is go into the local (AFSC) branch, ask the questions, get an estimate and decide for yourself.”

Moisture deficiency insurance is part of AgriInsurance, which is one component of the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (SCAP). Premiums for the program are cost-shared by the federal and provincial governments and producers.

McEachern said that program was expected to be used once every 15 years but has now been accessed by prairie provinces twice in three years. There is no guarantee it will continue in its present form.

For every dollar spent on moisture deficiency insurance, five times that amount has been paid out over the past several years, she said.

Producers often claim that precipitation recording stations show distorted levels from isolated showers that may not represent general conditions. McEachern said AFSC is addressing the issue.

“We try to have one weather station every 20 kilometre (radius). This year, 2024, there are six new weather stations that have been added and the hope is as we continue with the program, we are going to lower that radius down to 15 kilometres.”

More information on the program is available through the AFSC website.

*A correction was made to properly identify the cost-sharing structure for premiums.

The post Record pasture insurance paid out in 2023 appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The beef industry will have to see how well federal government proposals merge with its own efforts, which have already resulted in Canadian beef producing half the emissions compared to other major beef-producing countries.

The cattle sector is under government and consumer pressure to reduce methane emissions.

Dennis Laycraft, Canadian Cattle Association executive vice-president, said the group will learn more about the draft federal policy once consultations begin in mid-January.

“At this stage, there has been very little consultation on what was announced, so we’re waiting,” he said.

“Direct incentives are generally your most efficient way to bring about positive change but it’s unclear to us what is actually going to be proposed.”

The CCA has been working with the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef to develop protocols that are practical to implement.

Current options for producers to access carbon credits often see private companies do the heavy lifting when it comes to calculating emission efficiencies on operations, which then take a hefty chunk of the payout.

“We want to make sure if something is going to help us accelerate our efforts, that it really has to flow back efficiently to cattle producers for it to work,” said Laycraft.

He added that the CCA expects to release a progress report on the sector’s efforts to reduce methane emissions this year. The strategy was launched in 2017.

“Every tool, including incentives, will (be) helpful in achieving that (30 percent by 2030) goal,” said Laycraft.

Research is being conducted into cattle genetics to find ways to reduce methane emissions, and there are feed additives up for regulatory approval, specifically, 3-Nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP).

The regulatory process for 3-NOP is notable, said Laycraft, as it marks one of the first times approval has been sought for an additive for environmental purposes.

“We’re pleased with the effort going into that. We’re optimistic it will be available soon,” he said, adding other global players in the beef sector will be watching Canada’s lead.

– Alex McCuaig is a reporter for The Western Producer.

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The Forces Impacting Animal Agriculture In Canada: A Synthesis report delves into the issues surrounding cattle, dairy and poultry production in the country and how they are interconnected within various factors in day-to-day life.

Al Mussell, CAPI’s director of research, said the report draws from a lengthy technical report. Both that report and the synthesis document conclude that animal agriculture is important, though its economic impact may not be so clear to the less informed.

“It makes the point, and really drives home, that animal agriculture is extremely important in Canada. It’s extremely important from an economic growth perspective but it is particularly important regionally in rural areas that otherwise would not have the same levels of employment, levels of income in local communities,” said Mussell.

It’s also an industry built on use of farming byproducts to increase the value of animals.

The report notes that Canada has some of the lowest carbon dioxide emissions from production of pork and beef, lower than those in Western Europe, South America and Australia.

As well, it highlights that farmers are the most trusted people in the Canadian food system and that animal agriculture produces $90 billion in sales, 164,000 direct jobs and roughly two-and-a-half times that in indirect jobs.

Animal agriculture provides options to farmers whose crops are lost to hail, drought or other factors, and it enhances pasture lands through grazing.

Mussell said such points can get lost in the complexity of the agricultural food production system.

“The motivation for writing this report, this major initiative on our part, comes out of the concern there are quite a number of people who need to be involved in decisions that relate to animal agriculture but don’t bring particular expertise to it,” said Mussell.

“Those people are in a difficult spot because there is always a tendency to fall into a subset of isolated facts that might take you in a particular direction when in fact this is a much more complicated type of a system.”

The report is designed to provide perspective to decision makers by offering a balanced understanding of the value of animal agriculture and its importance to many communities.

“In Canada, we have an excellent animal agriculture system,” Mussell said. “It’s not perfect. There are problems. There are challenges and they need supportive policy to make headway on those challenges.”

One is the continuously diminishing cattle inventory over the past two decades.

On the other side, the industry’s preservation and improvement of biodiversity through responsible grazing techniques might not be fully understood, Mussell said.

“You look at what we are able to do today to make better use of grasslands, lighten up the footprint of animal agriculture within that — pretty impressive and that’s over and above the basic conversion efficiency of animal agriculture.”

Conversion efficiency refers to land not suitable for crop production that would otherwise be unproductive if it were not used to feed livestock, said Mussell.

The report can be found on the CAPI website at capi-icpa.ca.

– Alex McCuaig is a reporter for The Western Producer.

The post Report showcases animal agriculture appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“It wasn’t a fun year,” said the Whiskey Creek Ranch owner. “Of the worst 10 droughts in history for my township, I’ve been lucky enough to be ranching through four of them in the last 10 years.”

The ranch is in the Palliser Triangle, a region running in Alberta from Lethbridge in the west to north of Hanna, and stretching east to Moose Jaw, Sask., that is generally known as the driest on the Prairies. The region struggled over the most recent growing season, with many areas barely receiving 100 millimetres of rain.

For Williams, whose ranch is near Hanna, the total was about 75 mm.

Williams is far from alone. A big chunk of Canada’s cattle country is in the throes of a once-a-generation drought. The risks emerging from that situation as producers struggle to winter animals was the subject of a recent Beef Cattle Research Council webinar, in which Williams presented.

The first order of business, she said, is to cull troublesome and less productive animals now.

“If you’ve got yearlings, get rid of those first. In the case of a cow-calf operation, remove the cows that are costing you money. If you remove the underperformers, you are going to improve your herd genetics and be in a more profitable stance to build a higher performing herd when the drought does break,” she said.

Producers should also do pregnancy checks and cull open cows, Williams added. The profitability isn’t there for those animals and disease could be the cause for lack of pregnancy.

Late-calving cows should also be considered as an option for early cull because they can lower average weaning weights for the herd.

If any cows in the herd pose safety risks, now is a prime time to rid yourself of the issue, Williams added.

Deliberate feeding strategies will be required to get the rest of the herd through the drought. A range of less familiar feed options may become available, but William warned that those sources have different nutritional values and can pose risks if the feed comes from less known sources.

That makes feed testing critical, she noted.

“What you feed your herd today will have an impact on your herd’s performance and bottom line tomorrow.”

Buyers should also know what pesticides were used on any salvaged crop, and when, before using it for feed.

The quality of water available to the farm, prevalence of weeds in baled feed and any possible contaminants from ditch hay should also be on the radar. Producers should also have weed control plans in place in case seeds hitch a ride in bales.

She used the example of a past drought in in south-central Alberta, when knapweed came in with feed imported from the United States.

“To this day, 23 years later, those producers are still struggling to contain those infestations.”

When it comes to ditch hay, far stranger hitchhikers might be aboard. Ditch hay can be contaminated with litter and there have been examples of car batteries poisoning cows.

“Any time you do ditch hay or anywhere like marginal lands like sloughs that you don’t normally harvest, I’d recommend walking them first. Know what your plants are. Identify whether there are any poisonous species of weeds and, especially with ditch hay, we see lots of garbage,” said Williams.

There is a positive aspect to dealing with drought.

“You will forever be more creative with your feeding strategy,” she said. “Desperation will breed innovation.”

The full webinar, “Drought: More than a Summer Challenge,” can be viewed on the BCRC webpage.

– Alex McCuaig is a reporter for The Western Producer.

The post Winter brings no break for drought management appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The Marginal Areas Program on the Prairies is open to producers in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, with DUC providing financial support to convert unproductive cropland to forage areas.

FCC clients can access up to $2,000 in credit if they take part in the program.

Kristine Tapley, DUC national lead for sustainable agriculture, said the program is focused on cropland that isn’t producing economic benefits to farmers.

“Maybe it’s a saline area or for some reason doesn’t have the yield that the rest of the field does. If you’re not seeing a return on investment, those are the areas this program is trying to target.”

While farmers know which areas are not producing, the program provides assistance in finding unproductive farmland.

“The farmer self-identifies acres to enroll. It’s not like we pick or choose where to go in the field.”

She said farmers can stop wasting inputs on areas that aren’t returning yield and they receive an upfront incentive to seed down to perennial cover.

“And you sign a 10-year agreement with Ducks to keep that marginal area in perennial cover.”

Producers can then apply for the FCC annual credit which runs at $50 per acre up to a maximum of $2,000.

The DUC compensation level will be determined by the land and will vary by province, said Tapley, with provincial representatives from the organization able to help farmers determine the incentive payment.

“It’s typically not easy to establish those acres, which is why we’re identifying them as marginal, and once they are established, then they’ll come out and see they are seeded to perennial cover and you will receive your cheque,” she said.

The specific perennial forage will vary because of differing soil conditions but Tapley added there is a pollinator package available for areas in which such plants will work.

“Because it is a forage blend, you can hay or graze it if you see fit but these are usually small acres here or there that are rounding off the corner of the field or that are just not part of the higher producing areas of the field,” Tapley added. “It makes good business sense for crop growers and the second is that at Ducks, we truly believe the best quality land should be producing food and we should be putting all of the technology and knowledge and resources we have into those good quality acres to produce as much as we can.”

More information on the program can be found at ag.ducks.ca.

– Alex McCuaig is a reporter with The Western Producer.

The post Farmers urged to use marginal land for forage appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The report, titled Forces Impacting Animal Agriculture In Canada: A Synthesis, delves into the issues surrounding cattle, dairy and poultry production in the country and how it is interconnected within various factors in day-to-day life of residents.

Al Mussell, CAPI’s director of research, said the report draws from a lengthy technical report and while both that and the Synthesis document come to the conclusion of the importance of animal agriculture, the actual economic impact may not be so clear.

“It makes the point, and really drives home, that animal agriculture is extremely important in Canada. It’s extremely important from an economic growth perspective but it is particularly important regionally in rural areas that otherwise would not have the same levels of employment, levels of income in local communities,” said Mussell.

It’s also an industry that is built on using farming byproducts to increase the value of animals.

The report also highlights that Canada has some of the lowest CO2 emissions from the production of pork and beef, outclassing Western Europe, South America and Australia.

As well, the report highlights that farmers are the most trusted people in the Canadian food system and that animal agriculture in the country produces $90 billion in sales, 164,000 direct jobs and roughly two-and-a-half times that in indirect jobs.

The importance of animal agriculture provides options to farmers whose crops have been ravaged by hail and drought, and enhances pasture lands through grazing.

Mussell said such points can get lost in the complexity of the agricultural food production system.

“The motivation for writing this report, this major initiative on our part, comes out of the concern there are quite a number of people who need to be involved in decisions that relate to animal agriculture but don’t bring particular expertise to it,” said Mussell.

“Those people are in a difficult spot because there is always a tendency to fall into a subset of isolated facts that might take you in a particular direction when in fact this is a much more complicated type of a system.”

The report is designed to provide a well-rounded perspective to such decision makers to offer a balanced understanding of the value of animal agriculture and its importance to many communities.

“In Canada, we have an excellent animal agriculture system. It’s not perfect. There are problems. There are challenges and they need supportive policy to make headway on those challenges,” Mussell said.

One is the continuing diminishing of cattle inventories in the country over the past two decades.

On the other side, the positive parts of the industry when it comes to improving biodiversity through responsible grazing techniques might not be fully understood, Mussell said.

“You look at what we are able to do today to make better use of grasslands, lighten up the footprint of animal agriculture within that — pretty impressive and that’s over and above the basic conversion efficiency of animal agriculture.”

That conversion efficiency applies across Canada and involves calculating land not suitable for crop production and otherwise would be wasted if it were not used for livestock feed, said Mussell.

“We manage all of this in a manner which is profitable for each of the segments involved and which also supports communities that can work together to deal with the many issues that can come up and mitigate those by working together,” said Mussell.

The Forces Impacting Animal Agriculture In Canada: A Synthesis report can be found on the CAPI website.

— Alex McCuaig reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Medicine Hat, Alta.

The post Report aims to show animal agriculture’s interconnections appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“It won’t be enough, guaranteed, and for some it’s too late and they won’t qualify,” said Sheila Hillmer, about federal-provincial drought assistance.

The Alberta government will contribute $66 million and the federal government $99 million to assist ranchers with extraordinary costs associated with accessing feed and dealing with prolonged drought conditions.

The federal portion is part of a $219 million assistance program under AgriRecovery that is being rolled out to Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

Hillmer welcomed the assistance, which will see up to $150 a head for some producers. However, she said a proactive program is needed to ensure the viability of the country’s cattle industry, in which cattle numbers continue to shrink. Business risk management programs for beef producers continue to be lacking, she added.

“There has been more opportunity for profitability and sustainability for crops, so a lot of the land is being ripped up and being put back into crops because there is more profit and they are able to offset some of the losses with programs that exist,” said Hillmer.

Her words reinforce comments from ABP chair Brodie Haugan made earlier this fall. He said Alberta cattle producers need better business risk management programs that are more timely.

“I believe we are in a crisis,” said Haugan from his ranch about 80 kilometres south of Medicine Hat, in September. “We’ve seen the compounding effects of drought and severe weather. We’ve seen many counties declare states of disaster.

“We continue to hear of a lot of cattle going into town, a lot of pairs going into town. Producers have had to make that decision of how they’re going to get through the winter with the inventory that they have or the feed inventory that they have on hand.”

Details have yet to be announced about who will qualify for the Alberta program, which will be administered by the Agriculture Financial Services Corp.

Saskatchewan started rolling out assistance to livestock producers in late August with an initial payment of $80 a head as part of a $70 million advance on the anticipated AgriRecovery program. Saskatchewan’s program will allow eligible producers to access up to $77 million in designated areas based on Canadian Drought Monitor map, and up to $150 per head.

“I think it will be a big help for people who incurred extraordinary costs to source enough feed to get them through the winter,” said Keith Day, Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association chair.

“Earlier in the fall you could find feed, but it’s the freight that’s expensive. You have to haul it quite a way.”

Poor fit

The beef industry has historically found it hard to find BRM tools that suit the sector. Government programs often lean toward a “one size fits the entire ag sector” approach, said Haugan. In the process, the beef industry’s unique economic and logistical factors get lost in the shuffle.

AgriStability is one example that could be better tailored to the beef industry, he said.

According to AFSC, it offers protection against large declines that threaten farm viability and are beyond producers’ capacity to manage.

The program considers proceeds from agricultural commodity sales and production insurance to be allowable income. Allowable expenses include commodity purchases, as well as direct input costs incurred in the farming operation.

“There have been some very obvious holes identified with AgriStability, specifically around cow-calf production,” said Haugan.

Cow-calf operations don’t typically have high cash flow. They produce most of their own feed and never intend to sell it. That makes a financial shortfall hard to quantify.

Haugan also noted cow-calf operations tend to rely less on hired help, again making it a poor fit for AgriStability.

“A big part of how the program works is how you calculate the cost of your labour, which a lot of times isn’t actually paid labour. It’s family labour.”

Haugan ranches in a region hit hard by several years of drought and he said the losses are mounting.

“We’re in our fourth year of drought. We were forced to take some pretty serious, drastic management changes last year. We sold off 100 cows. We changed some of our grazing rotations. We didn’t keep our bred heifers at home. We left them in a feedlot for the summer.

“And if we didn’t do that last year, we wouldn’t have been able to get through this year. This year we haven’t built back our inventory at all. And that’s the only reason we’ve been able to get through this year.”

Crops fare better

Representatives from Alberta Canola Producers and Alberta Grains say most members have been able to get by with crop insurance.

Ian Chitwood, vice-chair of Alberta Canola, said most Alberta canola producers don’t see the need for an AgriRecovery solution for their operations.

“Despite the fact that we do have widespread drought and it’s in pretty much the whole southern half of Alberta, it’s not an exceptional circumstance like the beef sector is facing,” he said.

“I think that the broad consensus is that crop insurance will be suitable to meet the demand and meet the losses.”

Shannon Sereda, director of government relations, policy and markets for Alberta Grains, said most grain growers use AFSC’s crop insurance program.

Although that group will work with government to trigger an AgriRecovery solution if necessary, she said a lot of things have to occur before that happens.

“There’s a number of different criteria. One is whether existing programs can cover the loss,” said Sereda. “Another is if there’s extraordinary costs that wouldn’t occur under normal circumstances that they need support for, to offset the impacts of a disaster.

“Lastly, (the disaster) has to be widespread across a specific region.”

Sereda said the challenge with crop insurance is that multiple-year use creates more risk that subscribers ultimately pay for.

“If we look back to 2021 and now again in 2023, we’ve had some significant production losses due to the drought conditions. So it does start to really impact (producers’) premiums and their premium calculations,” said Sereda.

“So that’s something we’re also keeping our eye on because crop insurance is already a very kind of expensive part of our farmers’ operations.”

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