Too much rain in 2012?

Thursday, April 4, 2013

In 2012, likely the driest year in some parts of Ontario since the 1960s, Agricorp, the Crown corporation that delivers Ontario's business risk management programs, paid out $300,000 in claims on its pilot excess rainfall option.

There were 204 producers who signed up for the excess rainfall option after the pilot was offered to the first 750 customers who signed up under the forage rainfall plan, says Agricorp spokesperson Stephanie Charest.

Under the excess rainfall pilot, farmers could insure their forages for excess rainfall during first cut hay, which usually occurs around Victoria Day weekend in southern Ontario and a week or two later in the north.

The excess rainfall pilot is being made into a permanent program this year, Charest says.  Last year, 1,432 farm businesses enrolled their forage crops in the production insurance program. BF