Waterlogged Ontario farmers still waiting on a window to plant corn, soybeans and coloured and white beans ahead of crop insurance deadlines now have at least a couple of extra days.
Agricorp, the province’s production insurance and farm program delivery agency, announced extensions Friday for several of its planting deadlines.
Corn growers in areas A, B, C and D on the map above get an extra two days to plant, as the deadline for corn in area D moves to Wednesday, June 12, from Monday, June 10. For corn in areas A, B and C, the deadline moves to June 17 from June 15.
Soybean growers in those four areas get an extra five days, as the deadline in area D moves to June 25 from June 20, and the deadline in areas A, B and C moves to July 5 from June 30.
Growers of coloured and white beans also get five more days, as the deadline in areas D and E moves to June 25 from June 20 and the deadline in areas A, B and C moves to July 5 from June 30.
The agency’s full list of deadlines, extended or otherwise, is available online.
Decisions to grant extensions are made based on risk assessments and “consulting with industry” as well as approval from both the provincial ag ministry and federal agriculture department.
Growers calling to report planted acres will have a smaller window of time to do so, Agricorp said. Thus, the agency expects an “influx” of high call volumes during the rest of June as “many producers may call to report at the same time.”
Agricorp said its customers could also receive short automated email and phone messages on such matters from the agency in the next few weeks, and added that “each message is different, so customers are encouraged to listen to and/or read each message.”
Growers still unable to plant their intended crop or an alternative crop by deadline, if wet weather continues, may be eligible for Agricorp’s unseeded acreage benefit, if they insured all grain and oilseed acres.
Unseeded acreage claims are processed after an eligible grower reports his or her final acres and premiums are paid. The benefit is subject to a premium of $1 per unseeded acre; growers would pay that premium and receive their unseeded acreage benefit payments at the same time. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
