As Canada’s beef farmers and ranchers face drought, industry leaders are trying to find ways to secure feed and help those forced to sell rebuild their herds. B.C. ranchers are dealing with high temperatures that have “parched the grass that was there,” Kevin Boone, general manager of B.C. Cattlemen’s Association, said during a Canadian Cattlemen’s […] Read more
‘Time is ticking’ on drought response for beef cattle sector
'We need answers like yesterday'
Saskatchewan raises salvage threshold for parched crops
Stock watering program also boosted; APAS, Tories' ag critic had called for more drought aid
Saskatchewan’s provincial crop insurance agency is raising the yield threshold at which drought-damaged crops can be grazed, baled for greenfeed or cut for silage with no penalty on future coverage. Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. said Wednesday it would double the “low yield appraisal” threshold values on cereal or pulse crop acres put to feed. SCIC […] Read more
Updated CropChoices$ now available online
Reading Time: < 1 minute The 2021 edition of CropChoices$ is now online. The free budgeting and economic modelling tool can help when finalizing crop plans. The program helps forecast revenues and margins for grains, oilseeds, pulses, specialty and forage crops by using inputs and then calculating the probabilities of achieving the results. The latest edition features current crop insurance […] Read more
Saskatchewan to pare school tax mill rate for farmland
EPT mill rates to rise for residential, other properties
Saskatchewan’s latest budget taps down the education property tax (EPT) mill rate it sets on farmland, while raising those mill rates on other property classes. The provincial government, in Tuesday’s budget, set the provincewide EPT mill rate on agricultural land for 2021 at 1.36, down slightly from the previous rate of 1.43. EPT mill rates […] Read more
U.S. grains: Corn, soy, wheat futures ease in setback from surges
Sovecon raises Russian wheat export forecast
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. grain and soybean futures eased on Monday in a setback from rallies driven by concerns about tight crop supplies. The markets will likely not decline too sharply, traders said, because of strong demand from China and the need for large global harvests. In corn, speculative bullishness in corn remains near […] Read more
Big crop insurance premium cut may last for years, says AFSC
Barring a big crop wreck, this year’s 20-per-cent cut in premiums will continue for five years, says CEO
Reading Time: 5 minutes Alberta farmers will see a 20 per cent cut to crop insurance premiums this year — and if all goes well, those savings could continue over the next five years. “We’re providing a premium break right now that will lower the cost to producers in the program — (but) even doing that, we still find […] Read more
Alberta crop insurer taps reserve to cut premiums
AFSC to pare premiums by 20 per cent
The reserve at Alberta’s Crown crop insurance agency will be tapped to offset the premiums charged to farmers for the 2021 crop year, and possibly for longer. The province’s Agriculture Financial Services Corp. (AFSC) said Monday its farmer customers will get a 20 per cent discount on crop insurance premiums this year — which on […] Read more
Manitoba to consolidate and shut agriculture, MASC offices
Province announces 'new rural service delivery model'
Updated, Jan. 7 — Manitoba’s agriculture and resource development department and crop insurance and ag lending agency will close their offices in 21 communities and consolidate others this spring, in a bid to reduce their “physical footprint.” Agriculture Minister Blaine Pedersen on Wednesday announced what the province billed as “a new rural service delivery model […] Read more
Alberta suffered the most hail damage on the Prairies this year
Reading Time: < 1 minute This year was below the five-year average for hail claims for Prairie farmers but saw higher-than-average claim payments. Overall, the industry will record a near break-even type of year. Claims produced insurance payouts of over $192 million on more than 12,100 claims in Western Canada. Producer premiums totalled just over $300 million for an industry […] Read more
AgriStability proposal could have hidden cost, Pedersen warns
Manitoba's ag minister warns Bibeau's plan may hurt crop insurance, AgriInvest funding
Ottawa’s proposal for an improved AgriStability program could give farmers short-term gain for long-term pain, Manitoba’s agriculture minister Blaine Pedersen warns. At the online federal-provincial-territorial agriculture ministers’ meeting on Friday, federal Agriculture Minister Marie Claude Bibeau proposed dropping AgriStability’s maximum reference margin, and increasing the compensation rate from 70 to 80 per cent retroactively this […] Read more
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