A small child sits on the back of a bactrian camel at White Barn Fun Farm.

Volunteers help exotic animal farm rebuild

Devastating hailstorm wreaks havoc at White Barn Fun Farm, including the loss of a camel and a pony

Reading Time: 4 minutes Exotic animal farm loses beloved camel and pony to huge hail storm that gripped the Brooks, Alta. area as a community member starts a fundraiser to help the family recover from the financial and emotional damage.




Hail in a yard west of Somerset, Manitoba, June 12, 2024.  Photo: Alexis Stockford/File

Hail, strong winds damage Prairie crops

A series of storms left a path of destruction in all three Prairie provinces from Aug. 19 to 25. More than one million acres were either damaged or destroyed by the storms bringing hail and strong winds, leading to more than 2,800 claims of crop damage, according to the Canadian Crop Hail Association (CCHA). “This […] Read more





Photo: SusanneSchulz/iStock/Getty Images

Cereals withstood storms better: CCHA

Approximately 1,000 crop damage claims made from storms between June 23 and July 1

“Numerous early season storms have resulted in a number of claims for the industry,” CCHA Chairman Scott McQueen of Palliser Insurance said in a statement. “Cereals have generally fared better as many were hit in the grassy stages of development and minimal damage to the plant was caused with environmental conditions being favourable so that crops that were hit by hail are able to recover.”

AFSC offers two hail insurance options to Alberta producers: hail endorsement and straight hail insurance.

Alberta dwarfs the Prairies in hail claims

It’s not just because we get more hail, says crop insurance expert

Reading Time: 3 minutes When a province has a huge chunk of its geography referred to as “hailstorm alley,” it’s not surprising crop producers would get a lot of payouts for hail damage. But does that alone explain why total insurance payouts for hail damage in Alberta are about seven times more than the other Prairie provinces? According to […] Read more