Wild rice harvest in fall of 2016. Photo courtesy Kandis Riese, Facebook.
Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation is giving details on why wild rice premiums per acre have jumped across the board this year, with a 38 per cent increase in the western region.
Premiums in the eastern region jumped by 12 per cent this year and 14 per cent in the central region, while overall coverage has not budged.
The premiums are likely what producers will look at most closely, said Colleen Rooney, a research analyst in research and development for Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation (SCIC).
Premiums are based “strictly on what’s happening with wild rice,” she said.
“We calculate an average yield, pound per acre average yield for each of those regions individually. So the risk is based on, for each region — the past experience, how many claims have been paid, what the indemnities are and what the risks are of insuring the crop.”
For example, if the average yield in a certain region goes up, so will premiums. The calculations for this year’s premiums have a two-year lag, which means they’re based on the “very good crop that was harvested across the board for all regions in 2015,” Rooney said.
She added that since then, the eastern region “did suffer high water levels which impacted production and impacted the harvest of the crop.”
So, while the most notable increase was in the west, it’s people in the east who will likely be hardest hit by these premium increases.
Producers only pay 40 per cent of the premium per acre while the provincial and federal government pay the remaining 60 per cent.