Wild Rice Growers Receive Crop Insurance Cheques

Wild Rice Growers Receive Crop Insurance Cheques

Friday, December 14, 2007 at 15:25

For the first time ever, crop insurance cheques have been sent out to wild rice producers in the province.

Shawn Jakes of Saskatchewan Crop Insurance says $182,000 was paid out in the 2007 season — the fourth year in a row there has been a poor harvest.

Jakes says a total of 102 harvesters in both the western and eastern regions of northern Saskatchewan qualified for the payments — with the cheques averaging about $1,800 each.

He says producers in the east harvested a crop that was 48 per cent below the average, while western growers experienced a harvest shortfall of about 30 per cent.

Jakes says the 26 producers who had signed up for the insurance in the central region did not qualify for the payments, as they produced more than the coverage benchmark.