Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation

Eligibility

 

Eligible Producers

You are insurable under AgriInsurance for Organic Crops if:

• your fields are certified organic by a certifying body that is recognized by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) or the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and
• you were certified as an organic producer in the crop year before the crop will be insured as organic production.

To qualify for AgriInsurance for Organic Crops, you must:

• insure all eligible acres of the crop as organic
• provide MASC with your Organic Certificate Number when you apply for AgriInsurance for Organic Crops (and annually thereafter), and
• keep separate the production of organic and non-organic crops (non-organic crops can be insured separately)

Note: MASC reserves the right to verify the organic status of fields using a producer's certification records. Upon request, producers must provide MASC with their certification records.

Eligible Crops

Currently, AgriInsurance for Organic Crops is offered for organically grown flax, oats, durum wheat, extra strong wheat, feed wheat, hard white wheat, prairie spring wheat, red spring wheat, and winter wheat. Coverage for organic crops is established using individual coverage.

Eligible Causes of Loss

AgriInsurance for Organic Crops covers losses caused by:

• Drought, excessive heat, excessive moisture, excessive rainfall, fire, flood, frost, hail, wind (including tornadoes), and winterkill
• Disease and pests (if you've previously implemented appropriate control measures)
• Big game - bear, deer, elk, moose, or wood bison
• Waterfowl - ducks, geese, and sandhill cranes

Ineligibility

The following cannot be insured as organic production:

• Fields that lose their certification will have their premium reimbursed and will not be eligible for insurance in the current year either as organic or non-organic production.
• Land that is in transition from conventional to certified organic. These fields may qualify for non-organic coverage and will be adjusted for weeds and insects the same as conventional crops.
• Land that does not meet the certification standards of a recognized organic certification authority.

Buffer Zones

A 'buffer zone' may be defined as a physical border (i.e. strip of land, body of water, trees, etc) bordering an organic production area that is established to prevent contamination from adjacent activities.

Producers are not allowed to grow organic crops in the buffer zone. If the producer grows a crop in the buffer zone, the grain must be visually distinct from the organic production. Consequently, crops grown in the buffer zone are only insurable as conventional production.

Costs & Coverage

Premiums for AgriInsurance for Organic Crops are shared {program_details::producer_share}% paid by producer, {program_details::federal_share}% paid by the Government of Canada, and {program_details::provincial_share}% paid by the Manitoba Government, as part of the Federal-Provincial Growing Forward Framework agreement.

You may purchase insurance at {program_details::coverage1}%, {program_details::coverage2}%, or {program_details::coverage3}% coverage level. Coverage is based on a probable yield derived from your own 10-year yield average. If you qualify and are insured under AgriInsurance for Organic Crops, you're also eligible for Excess Moisture Insurance.

If you do not have a verifiable organic production history, you will be assigned a provincial probable yield for each crop. To use your own history, you must supply MASC with your verified organic production history by June 30th.

To reflect the additional risk associated with organic crops, premiums are 1.25X higher than for non-organic crops. However, the greater values for organic crops are shown in their MASC dollar values:

Crop	Type	Normal Dollar Value	Organic Dollar Value	Grade Guarantee
Flax	{flax::name}	${flax::per_bushel}/bu	${flax::per_bushel_org}/bu	{flax::grade}
Oats	{oats::name}	${oats::per_bushel}/bu	${oats::per_bushel_org}/bu	{oats::grade}
Wheat	{wheat::name}	${wheat::per_bushel}/bu	${wheat::per_bushel_org}/bu	{wheat::grade}

Note: Organic crops have the same quality and grade guarantees as their non-organic counterparts.

Deadlines

Date	Last day to...
March 31	Apply for a new Contract of Insurance Make changes to (or cancel) a current Contract of Insurance Apply for AgriInsurance for Organic Crops
June 22	File an Excess Moisture Insurance (EMI) claim without late fees
June 30	File Seeded Acreage Reports (SAR)
November 30	File post-harvest claims without late fees File Harvested Production Report (HPR) without late fees

 

Seeding Deadlines

Organically grown crops have the same full coverage seeding deadlines and extended coverage seeding deadlines as their corresponding non-organic crops:

Crop	Type	Seeding Deadline	Extended Deadline
Flax	{flax::name}	{flax::full}	{flax::extended}
Oats	{oats::name}	{oats::full}	{oats::extended}
Wheat	{wheat::name}	{wheat::full}	{wheat::extended}

 

Claims

Claims made for AgriInsurance for Organic Crops are calculated and processed the same as with claims on non-organic crops covered by conventional AgriInsurance.

Procedures

 

Claiming for Losses

If your actual harvested production falls below your guaranteed production, you must file a claim by completing and submitting a Harvested Production Report (HPR). Some claims may be calculated and paid using the information provided in your HPR.

To make a claim for losses:

1. Contact your local MASC Insurance office.
2. An MASC adjustor will visit the site and evaluate the damage or loss, determine the cause of loss, and measure all harvested production.
3. After evaluating the crop, the will adjustor complete an assessment form. If you agree with and sign the assessment form, it is then forwarded to the Insurance Corporate Office for payment. Generally, MASC will issue the cheque within three weeks of finalizing the claim. If you do not agree with the assessment, you should not sign the form.
4. If you are not satisfied with MASC's initial appraisal, MASC will complete a second evaluation. If after a second assessment you still do not agree with MASC's appraisal, you have the right to appeal the assessment.

Appealing an Appraisal of Loss

If you do not agree with an appraisal of loss completed by MASC, a second appraisal will be completed. If you do not accept this second assessment, or you reconsider the decision after signing a claim, you have 7 days to appeal the assessment to the Appeal Tribunal.

For more information, please see Appeals.