Alberta’s provincial crop insurance agency will “streamline” its inspection procedures to better deal with unharvested acres from last fall, the government said Wednesday. The announcement from provincial Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier follows a conference call with officials from Agriculture Financial Services Corp. (AFSC) and from the province’s wheat, barley, canola and pulse grower commissions. “Balancing […] Read more
Alberta pledges ‘streamlined’ crop insurance inspections
Alberta farm groups want provincial action on unharvested crops
A coalition of Alberta farm groups calling itself “Team Alberta” is meeting with the province’s agriculture minister and representatives from the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) on Wednesday seeking immediate action regarding approximately one million unharvested acres still sitting in farmers’ fields. They are recommending that farmers in the hardest hit areas of Alberta be […] Read more
Plant 2017: It’s all about making the best of a bad situation
It was never going to be good, but crop specialists say this seeding season may not be as bad as feared
Reading Time: 3 minutes To say that last year’s harvest season in Alberta was unusual would be putting it mildly. The exceptionally wet fall resulted in 967,569 unharvested acres reported to Agricultural Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) this past winter, representing millions of dollars in seed and inputs that have yet to be recouped. So the big question this spring […] Read more
The Big Wreck: One million unharvested acres
The financial hit will be huge and getting rid of those damaged crops could delay seeding and put this year’s crop at risk
Reading Time: 4 minutes [Updated: March 20, 2017] Ed Tollefson is worried he won’t be able to get 700 acres of snow-buried crop off his field before seeding this year. And the Valleyview-area farmer is not alone. Alberta producers have reported 967,569 unharvested acres to Agricultural Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) — a massive area that would have cost those […] Read more
Deadline extended for cash advances
Applications will be accepted until March 2017
Reading Time: < 1 minute Farmers unable to harvest their 2016 crops may be eligible for a cash advance under a revised application deadline. The Canadian Canola Growers Association will accept new seeded cash advance applications until March 2017. “This deadline change applies equally to farmers already enrolled in the 2016 program, as well as those who are applying for […] Read more
OMAFRA seen needing a soil health ‘tuneup’
Ontario’s environmental commissioner is calling on the provincial ag ministry to rebuild its soil health expertise and find ways to encourage farmers to adopt soil-friendly production practices, to deal with what she calls a “catastrophic” loss in soil organic matter levels. The report recommends better soil carbon level monitoring and 10-year programs to financially encourage […] Read more
Horrible fall harvest goes on and on
Many producers may have to delay seeding because they need to combine first
Reading Time: 3 minutes Keith Degenhardt thought last year’s harvest was bad. But then 2016 came along. The pedigreed seed grower from Hughenden estimated only about 60 per cent of the acres in east-central Alberta had been harvested by the end of October. “People have ordered dryers and some are putting crops in bags in hopes that they will […] Read more
It may not be a record but this year’s hail damage will be close
The great white combine has been decimating crops across most of the province and adjusters are struggling to keep up with claims
Reading Time: 3 minutes Increased hailstorms across Alberta have crushed many crops, and hail claims are soaring this year. “We’re trending to be similar to 2012, which was the record claim year,” said Nikki Booth, communications manager with the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation. “At this point in time, it’s looking like we will not be as high as 2012, […] Read more
Uncertain times prompt growers to take out more insurance
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s an uncertain world out there, especially in farming — and that has more Alberta producers taking out crop insurance. “We’re seeing more acres being insured by Alberta producers on crops — last year we were close to about 78 per cent of acres insured,” said Merle Jacobson, acting president of the Agricultural Financial Services […] Read more
New version of CropChoice$ available
Reading Time: < 1 minute The 2016 version of CropChoice$ is now available. The free crop-planning and risk management software program provides producers with the ability to choose from 40 different crops, and evaluate eight different scenarios. Producers can use their own costs and land rental prices to build their crop plan, or use the AgriProfit$ budgets already built into […] Read more
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