Record Manitoba Crop Insurance Payout

WINNIPEG - Jul 13/05 - SNS -- Manitoba Crop Insurance Corporation (MCIC) paid out a record amount of money to settle claims in 2004, sending insured farmers CDN $197.7 million to cover 13,600 claims, Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Minister Rosann Wowchuk said.

Excess moisture insurance payments this year are expected to exceed $50 million, involving over 4,000 claims and one million acres of unseeded farmland.

"Last year's unusual weather conditions resulted in a substantial number of claims and clearly demonstrated the value and importance of this insurance program," said Wowchuk. "This year, producers unable to seed their crops due to excess moisture will see a record payment through MCIC's excess-moisture insurance program."

The 13,600 claims in 2004 were the result of 3,000 claims for excess-moisture insurance from the spring, 800 reseeding claims, 2,400 claims for unharvested crops and the remaining 7,400 claims for harvested crops that were low yield and poor quality.

The excess moisture claims covered 600,000 acres and cost the inurance corporation $24.7 million.

Grain corn was impacted the most as much of the 150,000 acres seeded were written off in the field because of immature cobs affected by mould. A total of $29.8 million of the $31 million in coverage (96%) was paid to 587 grain corn producers.

Confectionery sunflowers were also severely affected as $24.2 million of the $26.8 million in coverage (90%) was paid to 400 growers. Dry edible bean claims totalled $26 million, canola claims totalled $28.1 million while wheat fared slightly better at $21.6 million.

"In spite of last year's payout, MCIC is still in very sound financial shape," said the minister. "The reserve was $320 million at the start of 2004 and now sits at about $233 million."

In addition, in 2004, the corporation paid $4.8 million in hail-damage claims and $1.9 million in wildlife losses. Waterfowl caused most of the wildlife losses as the late harvest left many crops susceptible to the migratory birds.