Breakthrough For Wild Rice Harvesters

Breakthrough For Wild Rice Harvesters

Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 15:01

It appears wild rice growers in northern Saskatchewan are finally going to be granted a long-standing wish.

Saskatchewan Agriculture has announced the introduction of a wild rice insurance pilot program in 2007.

Many harvesters have repeatedly voiced concerns over their inability to qualify under the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Program, when other producers like grain farmers can.

The department says the new project is in response to recent losses experienced by wild rice producers.

After harvesting record crops in 2003 and 2004, wild rice growers have seen poor harvests the last three years.

According to the department, the new project is an area-based insurance program — meaning coverage is based on the average production for each region in which the customer harvests.