With Alberta’s NDP government declaring this year’s drought a “disaster,’’ allowing the Agriculture Financial Services Corp. to access more funds to pay crop insurance claims, Saskatchewan farmers may be wondering if the province is considering a similar move. But Shawn Jaques, CEO of Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. (SCIC), says the situation in the two Prairie provinces is quite different — in terms of both crop conditions and crop insurance systems. As a result, he doesn’t see the need for the province to declare a “disaster,” like Alberta Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier did last Friday. “First of all, on the crop conditions, the situation in Saskatchewan is different,’’ Jaques said in an interview Tuesday. “Crop conditions are variable here in our province.’’ Jaques said crop conditions vary from above-average to well below average depending on location, the type of crop and local weather conditions. “Certainly, on the west side, I know producers were lacking rainfall this summer and it impacted yields. The rains came later, even in the driest areas of the province, ... but it was probably too late to help crop development,’’ he said. “Having said that, on the east side of the province, there were timely rains ... and there is potential to have an average to above-average crop in many parts of eastern Saskatchewan,’’ Jaques said. By contrast, weather conditions in Alberta have been extremely dry for most of the growing season, with many counties and municipalities declaring “states of agricultural emergency’’ and seeking provincial disaster assistance. More importantly perhaps, unlike Alberta’s crop insurance system, SCIC is fully funded and able to pay out all claims without seeking additional assistance from the province. “In 2015, we’re going to collect nearly $500 million in premiums. That money is used to pay producer claims. We don’t have to go through any other steps to use that money to pay claims,” Jaques said. SCIC paid out $314 million in crop damage claims in 2014 and $133 million in 2013, a record low in claims due to the record crop of 38.4 million tonnes. While it’s too early to say whether crop insurance claims will be higher than normal this year, Jaques said SCIC will be able to handle any claims due to drought and other crop damage. “Harvest is just beginning. As producers work through harvest, we’ll have a better handle on what we’re seeing (for crop insurance claims),” he said, adding only 130 claims have been received so far this year. With crop insurance as the “first line of defence,’’ SCIC can deliver other farm safety programs if conditions warrant, Jaques said. “That’s why we have strong business risk management (BRM) programs here in Saskatchewan. SCIC delivers the crop insurance program as well as AgriStability (the federal-provincial farm safety net program that covers producers against large declines in income due to market conditions, increased costs or production losses).” In addition, the province has taken a number of steps to reduce the hardship for farmers and ranchers in drought-affected areas, including allowing access to Crown and wildlife conservation lands for pasture, allowing re-seeded or drought-damaged crops to be used as greenfeed and facilitating the purchase and sale of surplus feed grain, forage and hay. Source - http://www.leaderpost.com