Manitoba Tweaks Crop Insurance

WINNIPEG - Oct 27/04 - SNS -- Manitoba will adjust the way it appraises crops for insurance purposes, especially corn and dry edible beans, says Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Minister Rosann Wowchuk.

Changes are being made to speed up the appraisal process, to reduce the costs of harvesting crops of little or no value due to weather damage and to allow producers to move forward more quickly with field work this fall.

MCIC has also implemented a procedure for writing off poor quality dry edible beans in the field. Where the percentage of damaged beans that would need to be removed to produce a marketable product exceeds 40%, production will be assessed at zero.

Bean prices are high and buyers want as much production to be harvested as possible. For 2004, buyers have agreed to inspect all acres of contracted beans to determine if the crop is worth harvesting. MCIC adjusters will need to agree with the buyer's assessment that production is not worth harvesting in order for the crop to be written off. In the event that a dry edible bean crop is harvested, net sales will be used to finalize claims.

Wowchuk noted that, as of Oct. 1, cereal crops in the milk stage, grain corn in the pre-dent stage, sunflowers with no seed color change, canola with all green seeds, flax with green bolls and immature white seeds, and dry edible beans and soybeans with very small seeds could be written off.

Now, additional changes have been introduced for corn by adopting a U.S. crop insurance approach for appraising production where grain corn has been frozen prior to maturity.

This approach accounts for the lightweight and poor quality production that is expected from frozen corn and uses ratings based on milk line development in the kernels to establish production levels. Additionally, if a significant amount of mold develops in the corn crop it will be appraised at zero production.

If farmers are not satisfied with the new appraisal method for grain corn, they have the option of leaving representative strips that will be appraised once the crop dries down to the point where it can be harvested. The lower of the original appraisal or the result of harvesting the strips will be applied in determining the claim amount. Strips need to be a minimum of 10 feet wide and the full length of the field with one strip representing 40 acres (four strips per quarter section).

"The new appraisal procedures give farmers more information about the appraised value of a standing crop which will help them make decisions on whether to harvest, put the crop to an alternate use or destroy it," said the minister. "Many farmers want to have severely damaged crops dealt with for insurance purposes so that they can work their land prior to freeze-up. These measures address that need."

Farmers must contact their MCIC agent before either destroying or putting an insured crop to an alternate use.