Farmers are looking for some decent weather now with harvest activities underway across the Prairies.
Over the last few weeks, some areas have seen severe storm activity and hail damage.
The Canadian Crop Hail Association says from July 29th to August 11th over 1600 claims of crop damage were reported in the prairies with more than 75 per cent of those claims coming from farms in Alberta.
Alberta
Crops damaged: Wheat, barley, corn, oats, dry beans, soybeans, canola, fababeans, flax, lentils, mustard, peas, potatoes, rye, sorghum, sugarbeets, triticale
Communities impacted include: Vauxhall, Lomond, Clint, Medicine Hat, Okotoks, High River, Blackie, Moss Leigh, Arrowwood, Queenstown, Vulcan, Bow City, Rainier, Scandia, Tilley, Cochrane, Airdrie, Balzac, Delacour, Lyalta, Strathmore, Carseland, Gleichen, Cluny, Bassano, Nobbleford, Monarch
Saskatchewan
Crops damaged: Wheat, barley, lentils, peas, canola
Communities impacted include: Estevan, Frobisher, Glen Ewen, Halbrite, Lampman, Oxbow, Regina, Rouleau, Sedley, Stoughton, Yellow Grass, Weyburn, Alameda, Swift Current, North Battleford, Kindersley, Shaunavon, Moose Jaw
Manitoba
Crops damaged: Wheat, canola, corn, soybeans
Communities impacted include: Virden, Beausejour, Steinbach, Tourond
Different hail companies may have different regulations on what to do if you are looking at harvesting or turning crops under before a crop inspection.
The Canadian Crop Hail Association lists the following information on their website canhail.com.
1. Where the crop is being turned under or cut for feed,
leave standing and undisturbed, a 12 foot strip, 100 feet in
from the outside edge of the field, all the way around. For
fields in excess of 80 acres, leave an additional strip down
the centre of the field.
2. If the crop is ready to swath, leave no crop standing. swath
it all as the adjustment will be made in the swath.
Exception: Leave standing samples of peas and
lentils.
3. Where swathed crop is being picked up, leave undisturbed
three 20 foot strips of swath on each side of the field 100
feet in from the outside edge of the field. For fields in
excess of 80 acres, leave three additional 20 foot strips of
swath down the centre of the field.
4. Where the crop is being straight combined, the location of
the evidence remains the same as if swathed. The size is the
width of the header by 20 feet long of undisturbed crop.
5. If a hail claim has been filed and sufficient undisturbed
evidence of the crop has not been left for
inspection, the question of liability will be decided at head
office.