Agroinsurance

India - In Punjab, Muktsar, Fazilka worst hit by rains

With large tracts of cotton and paddy fields submerged under rain water in several districts, farmers and administration fear that crop damage would be very high this year.Muktsar and Fazilka districts are the worst affected where huge areas of paddy and cotton fields are submerged. According to agriculture department officials, around 40,000 acres of cotton and 15,000 acres of paddy in Muktsar, over 40,000 acres of cotton and paddy in Fazilka and around 15,000 acres in Mansa were under water on Monday. The state drainage department is trying to pump out water from the fields.Chances of further rain on Monday evening triggered panic among farmers. Efforts to drain out water have not yielded the desired results till now.It is feared that over 15% cotton crop could be damaged and more rains could aggravate the situation.Muktsar deputy commissioner Jaskiranjit Singh said efforts are being made to drain out water from fields and minimize the loss.Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

India - Nagpuri Santra orange farmers feel the heat

Famous the world over, oranges produced in Nagpur, popularly known as Nagpuri Santra, are likely to be in short supply this year. Due to scant rainfall, the rising heat and fungal diseases, have led to the damage of 30 per cent of the fruit crop in a couple of months. If the diseases are not controlled now, it might affect 70 per cent of the crop. Experts from the State Agriculture department have pegged estimated losses at Rs 2.34 billion ($38.9 million USD).Scientists from the National Research Centre for Citrus (NRCC) — an arm of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research — discovered the crop-destroying outbreak upon conducting a detailed survey in the region.Citrus crops like neeby, mosambi and orange are grown across 1.5 million hectares in and around Nagpur. Average orange production is around 10 tonnes per hectare. According to scientists, it is low compared to USA, Brazil and Israel.Experts say flowering of Ambia Bahar (spring blossom) — a variety of orange grown in the area around June and July — starts in February; fruiting begins in April, and it is harvested around September.NRCC scientist Dinkarnath Garg said, "Diseases like Colletotrichum has affected the production heavily. Due to scanty rainfall in June, July and August, the trees did not get enough water, resulting in weakening of the stem of the fruit which has eventually begun falling." He added, "Also, a receding water table in the area has resulted in drying up of many citrus crop orchards. The farmers of spring blossom are paying the heaviest price as this variety is mainly planted in Amravati and Nagpur district, which depends on drip irrigation systems."Following the trend, NRCC scientists conducted field visits in August. Dr M S Ladaniya, director of NRCC, said, "We are giving specific advisories for disease control, so that it does not affect production."Swapnil Dote, a farmer who has grown oranges on his 10-acre land plot in Kola village in Nagpur district, said, "We didn't get adequate rainfall at a crucial stage and have lost half of the crop. Around Rs 70,000 ($1,162 USD) per hectare has been spent in vain."Another farmer, Tarasingh Kale from Pinkapar village, said, "My crops are spread across 12 hectares. The total cost of the plot is around Rs 700,000 ($11,672 USD) but I have lost half of the production. How will I get returns now?" Last year, farmers got Rs 30,000 ($498 usd) per tonne in the Nagpur open market. Manoj Jaunjal, secretary of Maharashtra Orange Growers Association, "The government should take cognisance of this situation and consider a special package for growers."The GR of June 6, 2014, says that insurance will be granted for a specific time period, against specific weather-related risks. In the case of orange and sweet lime, protection against low rainfall will be provided from June 15 to July 15, 2014, and protection against break in rainfall will be provided from July 15 to August 15 this year. State and Centre will pay 50 per cent of the insurance premium, while the remaining 50 per cent will have to be borne by the farmer.Farmers will be required to pay a premium of Rs 3,600 ($60 USD) per hectare for orange and sweet lime, and Rs 1,800 ($30 USD) per hectare for Guava, against assured compensation of Rs 60,000 ($996 USD) and Rs 30,000 ($498 USD) per hectare.Source - http://www.freshplaza.com/

India - Government considering farm income insurance scheme

Production and price risks affect the income of farmers, which has adverse effect on their capacity to invest in advance crop varieties, techniques of production and capital formation in farm sector. Inaugurating a Seminar on concept of farm income insurance scheme, Union Minister of Agriculture, Shri Radha Mohan Singh said that agriculture is largely dependent upon monsoon, which leads to uncertainty in production and price of agricultural produce.Government is considering to launch farm income insurance scheme so that these two important components i.e. production and price can be tackled under single policy instrument. The objective of this scheme would be to protect the farmers by giving them insurance cover for their production and market risks. The scheme aims to ensure continuous production, protection to livelihood and crops, encouragement to multiplicity of crops, which may promote competition from the angle of exports.Mentioning the sea change in agricultural scenario over the past few years, Shri Singh said that foodgrain production has touched a record figure of 264.38 million tonnes during the year 2013-14. It is a matter of great pride that today we are producing more than our requirement of consumption. Even the States considered to be backward are producing foodgrains in excess. Our godowns have adequate foodgrains and we are in a position to meet any adverse contingency. During the year 2013-14, the country exported agricultural products worth Rs. 2.41 lakh crore. The country anticipates to exceed the targeted growth rate of 4% during the XIII Five Year Plan, he added.Shri Singh said that we are facing difficulty to deal with storage capacity of our godowns and our procurement agencies like Food Corporation of India (FCI) are facing financial and structural difficulties. As such, mere subsidy cannot ensure guarantee for appropriate income to our farmers. Appropriate management of agricultural produce and improvement in processing technology can ensure good prices to farmers and they can also contribute to it.The Minister said that Government of India is implementing since 1985 crop insurance to protect farmers from adverse affect of natural calamities at national level. Based on experience gained from implementation of farm insurance schemes, consultation with State Governments and stakeholders, a revised scheme is being considered which may be more conducive to farmers' needs. During 2003-2004 rabi season some states and districts had started a scheme under which farmers were entitled to get compensation in the event of their getting lesser income from their production than guaranteed income. However, this scheme was applicable in case of rice and wheat only and it could not be implemented further, he added.The present government has invited suggestions from all states to protect the income of farmers by way of giving a concept paper for insurance scheme so that difficulties experienced in the past could be overcome. Ministry officials have held discussions on 14th August, 2014 with all State Governments, Shri Singh said.He expressed the hope that deliberations held in the seminar would firm up solid suggestions which would be helpful in preparing a practical and durable farm income insurance scheme.Source - http://www.businessinsurance.com/

India - Drought to deluge: Punjab suffers monsoon pangs

The Punjab government is in a catch-22 situation. When it has already sought a central package to compensate farmers for drought in the current kharif season, the flooding of fields due to heavy rain in the past week has damaged maize and other crops.Now, the state government is contemplating a special package from the Centre to compensate the crop losses due to heavy rain since September 1. The cotton crop sown over an area of 4.5 lakh hectares in the south-western Punjab and the maize crop on 1.75 lakh hectares have been damaged. Agriculture minister Tota Singh said a girdawari has been ordered to assess the losses.Already, the state government has sent a demand for Rs. 2,330 crore to compensate paddy growers who suffered losses owing to lack of rain at the time of sowing, transplantation and ripening of paddy crop.Farmers have borne additional cost of Rs. 4,000 to 5,000 per acre for expenditure on diesel to pump out extra water to irrigate fields in the absence of rains.Overall, Punjab recorded 59% deficit in rainfall till August 31 and suddenly in the past eight days – from September 1, the rain recorded is 10 times more than the corresponding period the previous year. Around 54 mm of rain has been recorded this month.Agriculture director Mangal Singh Sandhu told HT that as per a preliminary report from the field, in Mansa district, 2,400 hectares of cotton had suffered 20% to 25% damage, and about 2,300 hectares of paddy was reported damaged. He said that in Gurdaspur, 200 hectares of maize and 2,300 hectares of paddy had been damaged due to torrential rains in the past week.“In Fazilka, large portions of 40,000 hectares of cotton fields and about 25% of 30,000 hectares of paddy were found damaged. In Muktsar, cotton on 10,000 hectares and paddy on 5,000 hectares suffered damage,” Sandhu said. The state’s political machinery is already criticising the central drought relief in hushed tones.After chief minister Parkash Singh Badal repeatedly visited the central ministers demanding a relief package of Rs. 2,330 crore, the state could barely manage Rs. 73 crore. It demanded Rs. 700 crore to re-dig around 85,000 tubewells that might have become redundant due to excessive withdrawing of subsoil water for irrigation.The Centre has promised to compensate farmers who own up to 2 hectare (about 5 acre) land with Rs. 1,050 per hectare (Rs 420 per acre) as subsidy on extra diesel used to run the tubewells.Tota Singh said the Centre was aware that Punjab was a major contributor to the national pool of foodgrains and that its farmers deserved better compensation. Sandhu accepted that as Punjab could not seek a package for drought due to adequate availability of subsoil water, it could only seek the cost of digging out additional water to irrigate crops during drought. “The criterion for compensating losses due to drought and floods is the same throughout the country,” he said, but Tota Singh rejected the “uniform” formula. “How can farm land fetching per crop per acre lease amount of Rs. 40,000 be compared to a land fetching Rs. 10,000 lease amount,” asked Tota Singh, comparing Punjab with other states.He said, “Our CM is dynamic. He will make a few visits to the union ministers and make them accept our demand for higher compensation for drought. After the girdawari report, we will send a demand for compensation for damage to cotton and maize crops due to excessive rain.”Source - http://www.hindustantimes.com/

USA - Pesticide drift is persistent problem for farmers

The cloud of insecticide that drifted from a neighbor's corn field onto the asparagus on Andrew and Melissa Dunham's central Iowa farm cast a shadow over their organic vegetable business.They say the costs from the incident and resulting loss of organic certification on their asparagus patch for three years will reach about $74,000, and they're now working with the sprayer's insurance company."We're a certified organic farm — except for our asparagus," Melissa Dunham lamented.Pesticide drift is a serious concern for organic farmers and they've come up with several defenses, such as buffer strips. Twelve states are part of a registry of farms that tips off aerial and ground sprayers to areas they need to avoid. The aerial spraying industry and pesticide manufacturers, meanwhile, say they've made big strides in controlling drift through pilot education and new technologies.Organic and specialty crop growers are trying to profit off the rising consumer interest in locally grown, natural foods. But those smaller farms are often islands surrounded by a sea of conventionally grown crops that get sprayed with herbicides, insecticides and fungicides.The Dunhams grow about 20 acres of organic vegetables on their 80-acre Grinnell Heritage Farm, selling directly to consumers and wholesale to some grocers.Iowa agricultural officials determined this spring that a ground applicator violated several regulations while spraying an insecticide on a neighboring farm last August. Only the asparagus was affected, Melissa Dunham said, but since they can't market it as organic again until 2017, they can't charge wholesale customers as much for it.Any organic farm next to a conventional farm is at risk, so farmers typically have buffer systems, said Nate Lewis, senior crop and livestock specialist with the Organic Trade Association. There are as many buffer strategies as there are farms, he said. An organic apple orchard in Washington state could sell fruit from its first three rows of trees as conventional or Midwest corn and soybean farmers might just mow down their first few rows of plants.The Dunhams maintain a 30-foot buffer strip of shrubs along the affected side of their farm. They've posted no-spray signs and listed their farm on Iowa's sensitive crops registry. But the precautions weren't enough. Fortunately, Melissa Dunham said, no customers in their spring community-supported agriculture (CSA) program accepted their offer of refunds."They were more sympathetic and angry, actually, that there were no penalties," she said.Practical Farmers of Iowa recently began circulating a detailed brochure for farmers and rural residents on how to protect themselves from drift, recognize when it's happened and what to do then. The group's fruit and vegetable growers say drift is one of their top concerns, energy and horticulture coordinator Liz Kolbe said.Better pilot training and sprayer technology have led to significant reductions in pesticide drift, said Andrew Moore, executive director of the National Agricultural Aviation Association. The association offers a program across the country on safety and drift issues. He said it contributed to a 26 percent drop in confirmed drift instances between when it debuted in 1999 and 2003 alone.But it's hard for crop dusters to avoid vulnerable farms if they don't know where they are. Enter Driftwatch, which Purdue University launched in 2008. Producers can register their farms, while applicators can check the website's interactive map and sign up for email notifications. Twelve states and the Canadian province of Saskatchewan are part of DriftWatch, while Iowa and some other states maintain their own registries."I think for the states that have been in it a while it is making a huge difference," said Reid Sprenkel, president and CEO of FieldWatch, the nonprofit that runs DriftWatch.Organic farmers also worry about a new Dow AgroSciences weed control system awaiting federal approval called Enlist — partly because it uses 2, 4-D, an old herbicide that's been prone to drift. Pesticide Action Network organizer Linda Wells said 2, 4-D is "notoriously volatile" and particularly harmful to grapes and tomatoes.Enlist kills weeds that are becoming resistant to glyphosate, better known as Roundup. The company has given the 2, 4-D in Enlist Duo herbicide a different chemical structure, and customers must agree to use an advanced type of spray nozzle, said Damon Palmer, commercial leader for Enlist in the U.S.The combination reduces volatility and drift by around 90 percent, he said."We've got a solution here that will allow corn and soybean farmers to farm next to specialty crop and organic growers as well," Palmer said.Source - http://www.wdio.com/

USA - Wisconsin peach crop is lost

Finding a sweet juicy peach will only be found at the grocery store this year.Apple Holler Orchard reports that a long winter and below zero temps zapped all of the peach blossoms. Not just at their orchard, but across Wisconsin.Dan Flannery, owner at Apple Holler says, of the 500 trees he has, not one of them produced a single peach. Other orchards report similar situations.Still there is hope, apples this year did extremely well because they benefited from a late spring. He says he has the largest crop of some apple varieties than he can remember including Honey Crisp.Source - http://www.freshplaza.com/

Canada - Apple fire blight hits 90% of Nova Scotia orchards

Nova Scotia apple growers are fighting an outbreak of fire blight that threatens next year’s crops. The bacterium likely arrived with tropical storm Arthur and has affected nearly every orchard in the province.While this year’s apples are healthy and nearly ready for harvesting, thousands of new trees have been badly damaged.Andy Parker planted thousands of trees in his Berwick orchard last year, but they were badly damaged by the blight. The trees were essentially pruned into twigs in an effort to cut out the blight.“Probably between 1,000 and 2,000 trees. Maybe even a little higher than that. Depends on how they survive the winter,” he said.Robert Peill’s Port Williams orchard suffered too. "In this block there, about 700 trees that are gone. And there is no hope for what you see here. That's pretty well dead stuff,” he said.90% of orchards hitChris Duyvelshoff, a horticulturist with the Crown agency Perennia, said it was a dire situation. "The worst we've ever experienced here in Nova Scotia. Over 90 per cent of the orchards are affected in some way,” he said.Pruning in the weeks after Arthur helped limit some of the damage on mature trees but the new ones were too small to survive. "We are talking roughly in the neighbourhood of about 10,000 trees industry-wide,” he said.Apple growers hope the worst of the blight is over, and that some of the trees will recover to bear fruit next year.Source - http://www.freshplaza.com/

Philippines - 800 Ilocano farmers get crop insurance vs climate change

At least 800 Ilocano farmers will be selected as beneficiaries of a crop insurance the government grants to protect farmers from the impact of climate change.According to provincial agriculturist Norma Lagmay, typhoon-battered Ilocos Norte has been included in the more than P1-billion fund the Department of Budget and Management released as financial assistance to farmers around the country.Lagmay said beneficiaries of the program have yet to be identified by the department.The government’s crop insurance program is meant to help farmers cope with financial losses once hit by typhoon and other natural calamities.A crop insurance is a risk management tool enabling farmers to become more resilient and continue production despite severe weather and other challenges that impact their livelihood.Since 1982, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) has recorded many catastrophic typhoons, floods, droughts, plant diseases, and pests that have wreaked havoc on food crops, resulting in multi-billion losses in agriculture.Early last year, the Department of Agrarian Reform has also entered into a partnership with the PCIC to insure Ilocos Norte's land reform beneficiaries against crop damage or losses.Like the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries-Agricultural Insurance Program, farmers are also protected against losses due to pest and disease infestations, natural calamities, and extreme weather conditions brought about by climate change.The program has accounted for a P17.1-billion crop insurance coverage plan between the DAR and PCIC, an agency of the Department of Agriculture in which the DAR provides a premium subsidy worth P1 billion.The P1.5 million in indemnity payments were made to farmers covering 21 municipalities and 2 cities of Ilocos Norte, where some 900 hectares of un-milled rice were destroyed by typhoons.Source - http://www.interaksyon.com/

More on diminishing australian crop

South Australian farmers with massive crop wipeouts from frost are entering unknown territory to compensate for their losses.A week of intense frosts wiped-out crops across South Australia’s Mid and Upper North regions, in what’s been described as a ‘once in a generation’ event.Many affected farmers are now cutting their crops for hay, for the first time.Wilmington farmer Matt Modystach had 1,200 hectares of his 1,500-hectare cropping program wiped-out by frost.“We were looking down the barrel of one of the best years on record,” he said.“When we had about six or seven [frosts] in a row, I got onto my agronomist fairly quickly and the decision was made for us.“We just got the contractors in and cut it all for hay.”Mr Modystach has never produced hay before, instead opting to buy in bales to feed his livestock.The mixed farmer also runs 2,000 breeding ewes, with sheep accounting for the bulk of his income.Despite the potential to harvest more than 1,000 bales this year, he won't be entering the market.“I’m going to keep [the hay] on farm and just fence it off,” he said.“We now haven’t got the cash we thought we’d get harvest time, but we’re going to drought-proof ourselves for the next three or four years.”Mr Modystach says his remaining wheat crops have started to show small signs of recovery.With good rainfall, he's hoping to harvest at least a tonne to the hectare, 50 per cent of his original yield potential.John Carey, who farms nearby, has his sights set on the financial compensation hay could bring.Mr Carey lost 25 per cent of his grain crop to frost, and has already cut wheat, peas and oats for hay.It’s the first time he’s produced hay for the commercial market and concedes it is risky.“It was a big decision,” he said.“We’re a month ahead of normal hay-making time. This normally should be getting done in the last week of September or early October.“Some people said we had no alternative, but the easy thing would have been to take no risk but we would have got no return out of our paddocks.“We took a chance.”Mr Carey says he’s now hoping the hay won’t be damaged by wet weather, which could impact on quality and, therefore, price.But there’s still no guarantee even premium prices will compensate for his losses.The Australian Fodder Industry Association says it’s still too early to tell how frost events across the southern cropping region will affect the industry.Industry development manager Caitlin Schofield says quality will be a key factor.“Stem frost has impacted some crops which means they are likely to be unsuitable for hay,” she said.“Some growers are slashing affected crops in the hope that they will get enough regrowth from the second tiller to get a harvest later in the season."Ms Schofield says the early start could also be risky for growers.“There are also reports that some growers are cutting cereal crops for hay already which is early,” she said.“It is not uncommon for vetch or medic to be cut at this stage and I am hearing reports that some growers are into vetch already in South Australia and Western Victoria.“The risk with cutting cereal hay at this time is in curing and not getting a good enough curing window before baling.”Source - http://community.agriculture.com/

Africa - Climate Change and the Effect On Food Production in Nigeria

The effect of climate change is not only on the environment.Presently, Nigeria's quest for self sufficiency in food production may have the negative effects of climate change on agriculture.Every year, expectations of farmers remain dashed due to either late arrival of rainfall or excessive rainfall that results in flooding.Already, some farm crops have been destroyed due to flooding in some states like Bayelsa and Enugu. This is happening when farmers in particular and Nigerians at large are yet to recover from the devastating effect of 2012 floods that led to loss of many lives and in the high cost of food production.That is why the recent pronouncement of the present minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina that the federal government is considering the introduction national crop insurance for farmers deserves commendation. Adesina who made the statement in Abuja, during a workshop on water management solutions for flood recession and dry season agriculture in Nigeria stated that the programme, which would start from 2015 and targeted at 10 million farmers, would insure farmers against shocks and losses from weather-related events."Our goal is to insure no fewer than 10 million farmers. We will also design and implement a flood disaster payment policy that will protect farmers, communities and states from economic losses due to flood," Adesina said.He promised that the federal government would ensure that water is managed efficiently to improve production, stressing that water would be the most limiting factor affecting food production. "We must improve the efficiency with which we use water and get more grains per drop of water. To achieve this goal, he stated that stakeholders must focus on small scale water management system, not just the large scale irrigation schemes. it is in the interest of farmers and the entire country that the federal government introduce insurance schemes for farmers in order to safe guide the 2012 experience that threw farmers across 22 states into untold hardship.Source - http://allafrica.com/

Australia - Multi-peril insurance gains momentum

As the debt crisis engulfing rural Australia continues to dominate the agri-political agenda, momentum is building behind a push to develop a sustainable national model for multi-peril crop insurance.Stakeholders from state farming bodies as well as representatives from all major banks are meeting in Melbourne on Monday to chart a path forward on the issue of multi-peril insurance – a matter that has long dogged grains industry leaders in Australia.The meeting comes after insurance company, Latevo, offered the first multi-peril crop insurance product to Australian farmers for the 2014 season.The product was taken up by a limited number of farmers in every state, including two in Queensland.The policy only relates to broadacre winter crops and covers 16 “perils” including frost, drought, hail, insect and pest.But with large numbers of farmers now facing financial difficulties due to successive crop failures, calls for a more affordable and sustainable crop insurance scheme are once again building.Far from a unique concept, multi-peril crop insurance is widely used by farmers in the United States, Canada and Europe where the cost of premiums is largely subsidised by their governments.Previous proposals for similar systems of subsided insurance have been repeatedly refused by governments of both persuasions in Australia, leaving farmers to bear the full financial risk of planting crops.It is a risk that Grain Producers Australia (GPA) chairman, Andrew Weidemann believes many farmers can no longer afford to take.“They put millions of dollars out there every year on the basis of getting a return on that investment but they must ultimately rely on Mother Nature,” he said.Among those at Monday’s meeting will be University of Southern Queensland (USQ) industry research fellow, John Rochecouste.Mr Rochecouste is seeking financial backing from the grains industry for a research project that would evaluate the effectiveness of various multi-peril crop insurance schemes in Australia.He said previous research had shown that insurance schemes similar to those in the US would not be affordable in Australia.“We want to look at what options are viable in terms of protecting their (farmers) input costs such as fertiliser and seed,” he said.“At the moment we have a lot of farmers carrying high levels of debt and what we want to try and avoid is a situation where they keep borrowing to buy stock.“Then they not only loose the crop but all the inputs as well.“At the moment we are just approaching the grains industry but we are also interested in potentially cotton, sugar and cattle.”Mr Weidemann said more research into effective insurance models was needed but he said the GPA was looking for “cross commodity” support for any research proposals.“Next week is just the first meeting and people are approaching this from all areas with an open mind,” he said.“Let’s open the debate up and bring in other commodities and hopefully get a steering group formed to take the discussion forward.”AgForce grains president, Wayne Newton, will also be at the meeting and said multi-peril crop insurance was an issue that had been on AgForce’s radar for some time.“With the ever declining terms of trade and profitability in grain production we seem to be spending more and more to potentially not make any more money,” he said.“We have got to be able to manage the risk and multi-peril crop insurance is the way forward.”Mr Newton said the complexity of Queensland’s farming systems was limiting the widespread adoption of multi-peril insurance.“There is a general disinterest from some of these new players at looking at our farming system in Queensland because of the complexity of it,” he said.“They have much more defined cropping seasons in the south but we have a never enduing cropping cycle up here.“We have also really struggled to provide some of the data that some of the companies are asking for.“Some growers have it but others don’t so there are factors like that, that are limiting it at the moment.”Condamine farmer, Rodney Hamilton, has been a driving force behind moves to bring multi-peril crop insurance to Australia and is one of only two farmers in Queensland to have taken out a policy to protect his 2014 wheat crop.Mr Hamilton has 3500ha of winter crop planted this year and has paid Latevo $100,000 to cover the cost of getting the crop through to harvest, estimated to be $1.4 million.He said the insurance providers had carried out a full audit on his business and used figures on previous yields to provide a risk assessment on his ability to grow winter crops.“Then they give you an assessment of what your cost of production is in terms of how much it takes to grow 1ha,” he said.“My estimate came in at $382.10/ha for wheat. Then the premium is roughly 7 per cent of your cost of production.“So I paid about $100,000 to cover 3500ha of winter crop. If crop only returns me $900,000 because of lack of rain or whatever, they will pick up the $500,000 shortfall.”A claim looks unlikely for Mr Hamilton this year who says he only needs to harvest “five bags” to cover the $1.4 million.“Unless something goes drastically wrong I won’t be making a claim this year,” he said.Mr Hamilton said the value of the crop insurance to his business had already been proven.Faced with a $250,000 fertiliser bill at planting, Mr Hamilton was able to use the insurance to source crop credit.“Because I’d such a bad run of setbacks we didn’t have the money for the fertiliser so the fellow that provided the fertiliser was able to take first position against the multi-peril insurance,” he said.“Because I also felt secure with the multi-peril insurance I was able to forward sell $1.4 million worth of crop when wheat was a really good price.”Mr Hamilton is now planning to build the premium into his cost of production every year.“If you can keep getting multi-peril crop insurance every year it becomes a commercial thing that you can cover the cost of production,” he said.“We lost millions in those couple of flood years and if I had that insurance then I would have at least got my costs back.”Source - http://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/

USA - Hawaii County gets agriculture disaster designation

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared Hawaii County a disaster area based on damage to crops by Tropical Storm Iselle, Secretary Thomas Vilsack said Wednesday.Vilsack, in a letter, said the declaration, which “makes farm operators (in the county) … eligible to be considered for certain assistance from the FSA, provided eligibility requirements are met.”Available assistance includes Farm Service Agency emergency loans. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of a secretarial disaster declaration to apply for emergency loans. The FSA takes into account the extent of production losses on the farm, and the security and repayment ability of the operator, Vilsack said.Hawaii’s Congressional delegation praised the announcement.“For our Hawaii Island farmers, this disaster declaration by the USDA opens the door for federal assistance, and is one more step toward a recovering from (Tropical Storm) Iselle,” Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-2nd, said. “Our neighbors in Puna, volunteers, utility workers, and local and state agencies are working hard to rebuild and move forward. We must continue to support them however we can throughout the difficult process of recovery.”Sen. Mazie Hirono agreed.“Much of East Hawaii’s agricultural sector, including papayas, macadamia, coffee, and the floriculture and nursery industry, sustained damage from Tropical Storm Iselle,” Hirono said in an email statement. “The most severe loss was to papaya farmers. An estimated 60 percent of statewide papaya production was devastated. Preliminary assessments indicate that damage and losses due to the storm for papaya farmers is over $50 million. Many of the papaya farmers are small, family operations that did not have catastrophic crop insurance. … Federal resources are urgently needed to help our farmers and access to emergency loans is an important option for farmers as they work to recover.”President Barack Obama denied Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s request for a presidential disaster declaration last week.Source - http://westhawaiitoday.com/

USA - Program launched to aid cotton farmers as support payments end

Cotton farmers across the nation must adjust to the provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill that have ended support payments for that commodity. Here in Mississippi, cotton is still a major row crop bringing in more than $331 million in 2013.With support payments ending, a new transition program is now available to assist farmers with the transition until the new crop insurance product is available.“There are a lot of differences that farmers are going to have to deal with in the new Farm Bill,” said Mississippi Farm Services Agency Executive Director Michael Sullivan. “With this new transition assistance program, cotton producers now have a risk management tool in place.”The Cotton Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) provides interim payments to cotton producers during the 2014 crop year until the Stacked Income Protection Plan, a new insurance product, becomes available. CTAP applications approved before Oct. 1 are subject to congressionally mandated automatic reductions of 7.2 percent for the 2014 crop year. Applications approved after Oct. 1 will be reduced by the required 7.3 percent for the 2015 crop year.Sullivan said that the enrollment period for CTAP is open through Oct. 7. He added that farmers will be able to get help with the new CTAP program.“Mississippi State and Alcorn State universities will be developing tools on how to administer the program. The Farm Service Agency will also have educational sessions that will be announced soon,” Sullivan said.Source - http://msbusiness.com/

Canada - Recent rain will make for a long, tough harvest

Crop maturity and rainfall amounts vary widely across the Prairies, but the abnormally wet harvest weather of recent weeks is going to be costly for thousands of producers.  Inch after inch of rain is not what is needed at harvest time. Quality losses will be massive on some crops, with lentils one of the hardest hit.  Heavy rain across southern Saskatchewan hit much of the prime lentil growing region just as the crop was maturing. Expect some ugly looking product, particularly on green lentils, which are more susceptible to grading losses. Producers lucky enough to get high quality lentils in the bin may want to hold onto them. They could appreciate in value once the full extent of downgrading is realized.  If there’s a glut of low grade lentils, as feared, it could take a while to find a market for all that product. Wet and dry cycles make the seed coat brittle, and split seeds are more likely in crops such as lentils and peas. There will also be more dust and dirt in the sample.  Crops flattened by rain are more difficult to scoop off the ground, so header losses are greater. In cases of heavy rain, there will be spots in fields where the combine cannot tread. Barley and wheat nearing maturity at the time of heavy rain will lose bushel weight. Barley will have a difficult time making the standards if it was destined for malting. Limited spring cereal acres have been combined, so quality effects are hard to assess at this point. Producers will be thankful for crops such as canola, flax and mustard, which can typically withstand wet weather without suffering quality losses. Beyond the quality issue, heavy rain is also making it a much more difficult and expensive harvest.  Fields become extremely soft, which means producers must use extra fuel for combines and can’t load as much grain onto trucks. Some roads are inaccessible, so grain sometimes needs to be trucked on circuitous routes. Slogging through damp, flattened crop is hard on the combine, which causes more wear and more breakdowns. More grain will come off the field tough or damp, which means aeration fans will get a workout. Labour costs increase as harvest drags on. Sometimes people are available to help with harvest for only a short time, and rain delays will mess that up.  Cool wet weather is delaying maturity and increasing the risk of frost damage in areas where the crop is late. It will be interesting to see how the soybean crop fares. We’ve had late frosts in recent years, but we may not be that lucky this year. It’s difficult to calculate the total damage from the heavy rain during the last two weeks of August, but moderate assumptions on grading losses quickly run into the hundreds of millions. Continued wet weather will see those losses escalate, and an earlier than normal frost would bump losses dramatically. Frost is difficult to predict, but the recent weather pattern means it’s reasonable to expect more rain delays and associated losses. It has all the appearances of a long and protracted harvest. Farmers in different regions of the Prairies sometimes have different wish lists regarding the weather. Now that it’s September, the wish list will be pretty consistent. Warm, dry weather with no frost is the universal hope. We’ll have to see what Mother Nature has to offer.Source - http://www.producer.com/

USA - Rains slow harvest, damage crops in Idaho

Recent rainfall across the state of Idaho has slowed harvest and damaged some crops, according to the latest crop condition report from the National Ag Statistics Service state field office.Temperatures across the state ranged from 99 in Grandview to a low of 35 in Fairfield for the last full week of August.Precipitation was also reported across the state with some areas experience extreme levels. Rexburg recorded 1.94 inches, Malta received 2.10; and Lava Hot Springs received 2.26. That allowed producers only 4.5 days for fieldwork with some harvest being halted.The rain has increased topsoil moisture conditions with only 1 percent being very short, 25 percent short, 63 percent adequate and 11 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture levels are rated as 5 percent very short, 25 percent short, 68 percent adequate and 7 percent surplus.Throughout the state there were reports of mold damage in wheat. The spring wheat harvest is underway with 41 percent harvested. That is behind last year’s 66 percent but only slightly off the five-year average of 42 percent. Winter wheat in the state is 79 percent harvested, well behind last year’s 91 percent but just ahead of the five-year average of 76 percent.Producers in the state report 3 percent of the spring wheat crop is in very poor condition, 12 percent in poor shape, 48 percent fair, 54 percent good and 3 percent excellent.Reports from the Magic Valley attributed mold found in the bean crop to the catastrophic weather conditions. Producers statewide have noted the bean crop this year is 2 percent poor, 30 percent fair, 65 percent good and 3 percent excellent.Barley harvest is now 41 percent complete. Last year at this time it was 70 percent finished. The average is 47 percent complete.Jefferson County respondents report that premature sprouting in barely crop has degraded the quality from malting capabilities to feed-only grade. Producers rate the barley in the state as 9 percent very poor, 15 percent poor, 35 percent fair, 39 percent good and 2 percent excellent.The oat harvest is well underway with 53 percent in the bins. Last year at this time 62 percent had been harvested. Over five years the average is 54 percent.Potatoes are just starting to come out of the ground. Currently 3 percent of the crop has been dug. That is slightly ahead of last year’s 2 percent rate and the five-year average rate of 2 percent.Potatoes across the state are rated as 1 percent very poor, 7 percent poor, 20 percent fair, 61 percent good and 11 percent excellent. In Power County reports of late blight infestation have been spotted in the crop.Corn harvested for silage is also beginning with 4 percent complete. Last year and the five-year average stand the same at 1 percent. The crop is doing well with 15 percent rated fair, 83 percent good and 2 percent excellent.Dry edible beans are being harvested across Idaho with 3 percent harvested, slightly behind last year’s 4 percent. The average over five years is 6 percent.The dry pea harvest is more than half complete at 64 percent. Last year the harvest stood at 68 percent complete. The average is 44 percent.Currently 89 percent of alfalfa hay has been cut twice, compared to 96 percent last year and 93 percent over the past five years. Third cutting of alfalfa stands at 51 percent complete, which equals last year. The average over five years is 40 percent. Producers report that mold damage from hay has hit some of the state’s alfalfa crop.Due to an increase of extreme weather conditions, concern of economic losses for cereals, alfalfa, and beans, some counties have moved forward with a rain disaster declaration for producers.Source - http://www.theprairiestar.com/