Submitted by the Canadian Crop Hail Association
It's a race against time for many farmers in the central and northern regions of Saskatchewan and Manitoba as they desperately try to finish seeding before it's too late.
Seeding in late June is uncommon, but there is a legitimate reason for the extended delay - the weather, of course.
Rain and wet ground conditions in Saskatchewan near Nipawin and Kerrobert has been wreaking havoc for farmers and their crops in these areas to the point where many are destroying 2016 crops to make room for this year's crop.
An over abundance of moisture and an early snowfall toward the latter stages of harvest last year prevented many from removing crops. Combine that with a wet spring and it became increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for farmers to remove last year's crop.
In some cases, the 2016 crop is still on the ground. Elsewhere in central and northern regions, seeding is just getting underway.
Others in Manitoba have been reseeding because hail damage in early June wiped out much of their beans. They've been reseeding with canola, among other things.
Alberta
Hail damage claims are starting to trickle in after a line of severe thunderstorms ripped through central and southern Alberta on June 21.
Claims have been received from farmers near the towns of Bentley, Millet and Falher - located slightly north of Red Deer. Hail was spotty in these parts, with stones approximately pea-sized. Strong winds with gusts in excess of 110 kilometres per hour were recorded in some spots through the region with anywhere from a half inch to more than one inch of rain.
The majority of crops are still in their infancy stages in this part of the province, thus the damage from the heavy storm was minimal to crops.
However, other regions in central Alberta weren't as fortunate. Reports of golf ball-sized and toonie-sized hail in the Buck Lake area accumulated up to three inches deep. This community, however, has not managed to get many acres seeded due to unharvested crops from 2016 and an extremely wet spring preventing producers from seeding.
Quarter-sized hail was reported in Buck Creek and Violet Grove areas, while loonie-sized hail was found in the Pigeon Lake area. Substantial tree damage was recorded throughout the city of Red Deer and surrounding areas, as well as in Parkland County.
So far this season, the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation recorded its first hail event on May 13 in the Taber area and has had approximately 10 storms reported over the past 30 days. All of them were smaller localized areas in south and central Alberta with few acres reported and very minimal damage.
Picture Butte recorded a hail claim from June 8.
Crops in southern Alberta are further advanced, but many acres throughout the central and northern regions of the province were seeded much later than normal this year and are still in early crop stages and not as susceptible to hail yet.
The Peace River region is seeing a lot of unseeded acres due excess moisture.
Saskatchewan
While farmers in the west-central region of the province dealt with a wet spring - an issue that severely delayed seeding - farmers in the south were anxiously waiting for rainfall to help jumpstart crop growth.
As indicated earlier, many farmers near Nipawin and further west toward Kerrobert and Biggar have experienced wet ground conditions for much of the spring. An early snowfall in 2016 prevented the removal of crops. As of mid-June, many were either still in the process of removing last year's crop or in the beginning stages of seeding.
It was a different story in the southern half of the province. Dry conditions allowed farmers to seed on schedule and get a jumpstart on growth.
Those dry conditions in the south finally gave way to ample moisture in mid-June.
Consistent high winds, however, have restricted farmers to only spraying crops in early morning and late evening.
A band of small storms were reported June 2 and on June 9 in the Carlyle, Kenaston, Cudworth, Waldheim and Saskatoon areas. These storms, however, did not hurt cereal crops but there was some small defoliation numbers recorded for canola.
Manitoba
The first hail storm of the season occurred June 9 when a storm rolled over the international border and tracked north and east toward Crystal City and Pilot Mound. The storm lost much of its momentum the further it tracked north.
Wheat suffered slight damage, but because it was still in the grass stage the damage was minimal. Canola crops suffered some defoliation, but the plant stand survived and the overall damage is expected to be minor.
Soybean crops suffered severe damage closer to the border and more minimal damage the further north the storm tracked. New plants have emerged since the storm depending on the seeding date.
Claims were reported near Crystal City, Clearwater, Pilot Mound and Killarney.
Another hail storm was recorded on June 19 near Mather and Cartwright and another just south of Minnedosa from Oakburn up to Newdale. There was very minor damage and no significant claims to report.
Consistent high winds have restricted farmers to only spraying crops in early morning and late evening.
In total, there have been 208 hail claims registered to date.
Who we are:
The Canadian Crop Hail Association (CCHA) has been serving the crop insurance industry in one form or another since 1915. It is a member-driven organization that represents the interests of the Canadian Crop Hail managing general agencies and insurance companies. CCHA member companies write Crop-Hail insurance product totalling approximately $250 million in premium, with liability totalling approximately $5 billion. Our companies service all farmers in the three prairie provinces. These private and government agencies together provide a risk management tool to the Canadian prairie farmer.
What the CCHA does:
Operates as an insurance advisory organization;
Gathers and distributes industry statistics and information to members;
To develop and provide in conjunction with national crop insurance services, provincial insurance superintendents and provincial insurance councils procedures and forms for adjustment of losses;
To conduct research, training and education activities in order to promote improved knowledge and understanding of the appropriate aspects of crop hail insurance.
The Canadian Crop Hail Association members are: Additional Municipal Hail Ltd.; Agriculture Financial Services Corporation; Canadian Hail Agencies Inc.; Co-operative Hail Insurance Company; Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation; Rain and Hail Insurance Service Ltd.; Palliser Insurance Company Ltd.
