Alberta has declared 2014 an agricultural economic disaster, and insurers are bracing for a $589 million in crop and hail coverage payout to farmers.
Cabinet passed an order in council making the declaration, noting early snow and frost have damaged crops throughout the province.
That province's Agriculture Financial Services Corporation had expected to pay out up to $467 million this year in damage claims, but that figure has climbed to $589 million – and may go even higher.
“Producers have until November 15 to file their crop insurance claims with us,” stated Nikki Booth, a spokesperson for the Crown corporation in an email to the
Brandon Sun, “so this number ($589 million) could change either up or down once we have the total number of claims and indemnities in.”
In addition to the early snow and frost, that has been plenty of hail damage in parts of Alberta – with heavy storms pounding that province back on August 7 and 8.
Those storms brought insurance payments from natural catastrophes to $4 billion in Albert since 2011, and elicited some prophetic words from the
Insurance Bureau of Canada.
“While the frequency and severity of weather events have been rising across the country, Alberta has been hardest hit,” Bill Adams, vice-president, Western and Pacific, IBC, told Insurance Business back in September. “What’s more is that we are not out of the woods yet.”
Booth said this year the corporation collected $605 million in insurance premiums.
In 2012, $451 million was paid out to farmers after declaring a similar disaster due to record hail damage.
