Mother Nature has been a little unpredictable the last few years.

Heatwaves, mixed in with frequent hail storms, intense wind and periods with unusual amounts of precipitation, have made it tough for agricultural producers to enter any season with certainty.

This spring has kept that trend of unpredictability alive, as Sharon Hubbard, area program co-ordinator with the Alberta Financial Services Corporation (AFSC), said area farmers are behind schedule, as the crop-insurance deadline looms.

“It is slow. Some areas are still too wet,” said Hubbard, who mentioned the Readymade area as one location where farmers have yet to get out, while she said other parts of southern Alberta have fields dry enough for activity. “There is quite a bit of seeding done in the Vauxhall area, where there’s some lighter, sandier soil.”

A couple of sugar beet fields have also been seeded east of Lethbridge, she added, as the hope is southern Alberta’s winds will help things dry up, along with a little sun.

“Once it gets started, they get a lot of acres seeded in a hurry,” said Hubbard of how quickly crops can be planted once conditions are right.

But the late start to seeding could make things interesting for farmers staring at an April 30 deadline to either apply for crop insurance or change their policy before it is auto-renewed. Growers also have the recommended seeding dates AFSC has in place to consider, as May 31 is the recommended date for seeding wheat, oats, flax, canola and mustard. A June 5 deadline looms for barley, mixed grain, spring rye and spring triticale.

Crops seeded after those dates still qualify for insurance, though coverage will be dependant on a number of different factors, while crops seeded before those date will be protected against grade loss in the fall.

For specialty crops, the situation is a little different, according to Hubbard, who added a June 7 deadline is in place for beets and a June 10 deadline for potatoes, for example, as crops planted after those dates are not insurable.

New this year, AFSC has made changes to hail insurance.

“We’ve increased our straight hail insurance on major crops from $150 to $225 per acre on dryland,” said Hubbard, who added the limit on irrigation has been bumped up from $225 to $400 on irrigation.

For canola and chickpeas, the limit on dryland has been bumped to $325, and $425 on irrigation. Potato farmers will have an opportunity to max out coverage at $1,900 on dryland and $2,450 on irrigation, up from $450 and $675 respectively.

“The farmers have been asking for more dollar coverage for straight hail insurance,” said Hubbard, as to the reasoning behind the changes.

Source - http://lethbridgeherald.com/