Market garden operators got some insurance help this year with the promise that more comprehensive weather-loss protection is coming.

Severe hailstorms that swept through central Alberta last summer destroying fruit and vegetable crops led to renewed calls for better insurance protection for market gardens along the lines of programs available for major crop producers.

In response, Alberta Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) boosted the maximum hail coverage available to market gardens to about $20,000 per acre from $2,500. Work continues on developing a more comprehensive program in consultation with fruit and vegetable growers, said Jesse Cole, AFSC manager of insurance products and product innovation.

“It’s still a priority on our end,” Cole said this week.

This year’s coverage increase came out of conversations with market garden operators, such as Blaine and Leona Staples, who run The Jungle Farm near Innisfail and have been dedicated lobbyists for better coverage.

The maximum was designed to provide useful relief even when the most expensive crops to produce, such as strawberries or garlic are hammered by hail. It is considerably higher per-acre compensation than is available for major crops such as canola.

“Market gardens are smaller, they’re more intense, they spend more on input, so we tried to reflect that in the straight hail number,” said Cole.

In the meantime, AFSC is trying to meet with as many market garden operators as it can to get their feedback on what sort of larger insurance program would meet their needs.

Market gardens can tap the federal government’s Agri-Stability program, which is designed to provide some compensation to farmers weathering drastic revenue drops.

However, the operators hope to have access to a cost-shared insurance program with provincial and federal premium contributions along the lines of those available to major crop producers. Some have also suggested some form of revenue insurance program would help

Cole said depending on the type of program that is decided on it could be a year or several years before it is finalized.

“If we’re looking at something like revenue insurance. We haven’t done that before this type of setup. That might take three or four years. There’s a pretty wide range on the timeline depending on what’s needed.

“It’s a fairly unique situation. It’s something that doesn’t fit the mold of traditional crops.”

The first consideration is establishing what sort of program meets the needs of market garden growers, he added.

Market garden operator Lonny Kennett is pleased to see there is momentum behind an insurance program.

“I’m on year two of getting hammered by hail,” said Kennett, a Red Deer County councillor and operator of Rare Farms, a 2.5-acre market garden about six km east of Red Deer.

“Anything we have is better than we have right now, honestly. I’m quite hopeful they will come through with something.”

Kennett said he is willing to be patient and recognizes an effective program may take time to develop.

“I understand that because I would rather have something that is well thought out and well executed versus thrown together at the last second.”

Source - https://www.reddeeradvocate.com