Some producers have reported improved crop conditions following what started out as a dry growing season with intermittent hailstorms, said an Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) spokesperson. The AFSC had originally forecast the cost of insurance claims throughout the province to range between $700-900 million this growing season. But the total payout was recently pegged at about the $300 million mark, which includes pre-harvest, hail, dry condition and some post-harvest claims, said Nikki Booth. Last year saw good, strong quality crops as well as yields but also plenty of hail, and the AFSC paid out just shy of $400 million in insurance claims. However, this year’s final total will yet go up. “We’re not done the season,” Booth said during a phone interview on Nov. 5. “Harvest is still going on.” The AFSC is still working through post-harvest claims, which will likely continue until about the end of November and the final total will indicate whether the forecast was accurate, she said. With the rain that came later on in the season, some producers did start to see some changes in their crops’ quality and yields, which has impacted the situation on a positive note, she said, adding that with claims still being received, the extent of that impact is not yet known. Mountain View County is located in Parkland, which is one of four regions outlined by AFSC. The Parkland region stretches from Camrose down to Drumheller and all the way over to Oyen and Provost. The Southern region goes from the Balzac-Calgary area down south. The Central region starts at Leduc and reaches up to Athabasca, and the North region covers the rest of the province heading north. The areas hit hardest by hail and dry conditions in Alberta this year were in the southern part of the province and in the Parkland region, which had the highest number of claims. But compared to other parts of the province, crops in the county fared relatively well, she said. “It’s been a bit of a mixed bunch of conditions this year. It has been a really unique year, that’s for sure,” she said. There is no average or typical claim, as each one depends on the operation and its location in the province. From hail to dry conditions, the kinds of claims are “really quite varied.” The weather throughout the harvest season has been great, and there was no killing frost for quite some time. The first frost was towards the end of September, more in the central part of the province, but it didn’t seem to have negatively impacted harvest too much. For this time of year, conditions have not been bad at all, she said. “Given how the season started out and where we are now, there has been some turnaround,” she said. But it’s a matter of waiting to see what that will mean for crop yields and quantities. Still, some producers were somewhat surprised by the changes in their yields and quantities, she said. “Based on crop reports that we’ve been seeing, there could be some positive changes,” she said. Of course one cannot speculate on the final outcome until all the post-harvest claims are in, she said. AFSC employees spend a lot of time in the field talking to clients. With 46 offices throughout the province, the staff is really imbedded in the communities. Losing crops is a major hardship for producers, whose livelihoods depend on a good harvest, so AFSC endeavours to process claims as quickly as possible, she said. “Some of our staff are producers as well. They know what it’s like,” she said. Source - http://www.mountainviewgazette.ca