Peoples Thoughts on New Alberta Crop Insurance Programs

[charliep]

Have people had a chance to look at the new Alberta crop insurance alternatives? What are your thoughts?

The AFSC link is: http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200301/13798.html

[ianben]

Yes it is true but it is a farmers idea to avoid the use of straw.
New welfare regulations state pens must contain some fancy word material. They meant straw or any other bedding material so pigs could not be kept in stalls or on concrete slats
This messed up some manure handling systems big time as well as being more costly so some clever guy has got footballls and plastic toys classed as this fancy word material.

[TJM]

Muttly....you've got me laughing. This is probably going to sound just as bad but when we were in the hog industry, we did hang 'toys' for the 'kids' to play with. Old tires, ropes, chains, anything that would amuse them. But they would become bored of them rather fast so we would have to change them around often. And they would get into the game as well. Sometimes the 'toys' would become swinging so fast one wondered if they weren't 'weapons'.

I do agree with you that farmers will adopt almost anything if the cost can be justified by the benefit. We definitly don't need gov'ts telling us what is best for something they know little (rather, nothing in most cases) about.

Clever way to get around a tough legislation in the UK don't you think!

[TOM4CWB]

Charlie;

We need specifics to see how the program actually works...

I guess our local Crop Insurance office should be able to do this soon!

[TOM4CWB]

Charlie;

I called today... and we will not have any farm numbers on coverages until March... for the new 03 programs...

As I mentioned in the other topic...

Instead of Crop Insurance being innovative... and topping up acerage coverage with rainfall or heat/wind stress insurance... they took the easy way out... and didn't provide what farmers needed... decent cost of production insurance coverage.

On our farm, we have forage grasses that Crop Insurance does not provide any coverage for our grass seed crops... Yet rainfall pasture insurance would be avaliable... data taken just from the rain measurment device...

SO why not allow coverage on acres that no other coverage is avaliable?

THis same coverage could easily "top up" the sick coverage levels on our feed grain crops...

I checked at Oliver Edmonton, and Elk Island... and AFSC $47/ac rainfall coverage costs $2.91/ac... this would be a fair and reasonable risk management strategy to really improve the Crop Insurance program in Alberta...

And this easily could still be done this year!

The deadline for signing up for this AFSC insurance is the end of Feb... so if a change is to be made... it must be done soon...

In fact, I had understood this top up option was going to be avaliable this year... too bad some people lost sight of what farmers real needs are!

THis type of top up insurance is exactly what is needed to take the pressure off the pricing issues we have been talking about!

In fact, if rainfall top up coverage was avaliable, then I would suggest that a maximum regular crop insurance level... of some number... say $250./ac on my farm...be implemented... to reduce risk to the program, and provide more economical insurance premiums, that this actuarial change would benefit the Crop insurance program.

If barley goes to $5.00/bu next fall, and I have 60bu/ac insured coverage on a specific barley field... this is a large indemnity... $300/ac... and if I only need $200/ac to all my overhead and production costs... why subject the Crop Insurance program to making these types of payments...

Yet with a low spring variable rate of $2.73/bu.. in this same example... I can only get $163./ac coverage... which is not sufficient.

I hope you can see... that these are serious issues to making Crop Insurance a good and proper risk management tool for farmers in Alberta!

Too bad Crop Insurance didn't specifically ask those of us who have worked on these risk management issues for years... for some creative ways of actually providing for real and needed coverage improvements IMHO!

Tom Jackson

[Muttley]

Yea your right, I see nothing wrong with having something in the pen to play with. Like you I used to put tires and such for the pigs to play with to. It's just that old government crap about telling me to do it.