Member companies of the Canadian Crop Hail Association (CCHA) say they're processing more than 2,000 claims of crop damage across the Prairies.
Members of the Canadian Crop Hail Association include Co-operative Hail Insurance Company, Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation, Palliser Insurance Company Ltd, Saskatchewan Municipal Hail Insurance and Rain and Hail Insurance Services.
The claims stem from storms that occurred June 22nd to July 5th. During that time, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba were hit with hail from golf-ball size to baseball size, along with wind and large amounts of rain.
President of CCHA Tyson Ryhorchuk says a large area of Saskatchewan was hit by consecutive days of hail.
"Alberta and Manitoba are also fairly heavy, especially in southwest Manitoba," said Ryhorchuk. "But there was that large storm that everyone's been hearing about that stretched basically from Calgary all the way down to Swift Current that had a pretty big swath of hail that came through with it."
He added northern portions of Saskatchewan are also seeing storm activity, noting "hail and plow winds go basically from Tisdale all the way to the Manitoba border in the northeast corner of the province."
All crop types were reported to have been damaged by hail in the Prairie Provinces, according to CCHA.
In Alberta, crops affected by hail include barley, canola, corn, lentils, mustard, oats, peas, soybeans, and wheat. Communities impacted include Barons, Claresholm, Hanna, Iron Spring, Lacombe, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Milk River, Picture Butte, Provost, Troch, Torrington, Veteran, Vermillion, and Wainwright.
In Saskatchewan, barley, canola, chickpeas, corn, flax, lentils, mustard, oats, peas, soybeans, and wheat were damaged. Communities affected include Abbey, Abernethy, Assiniboia, Bienfait, Big River, Burstall, Canora, Cut Knife, Edam, Estevan, Foam Lake, Fox Valley, Glenavon, Gravelbourg, Hudson Bay, Humboldt, Kamsack, Kindersley, Leader, Lipton, Lloydminster, Lumsden, Mankota, Meadow Lake, Meath Park, Melville, Midale, Montmartre, Moose Jaw, Mossbank, Neilburg, Neudorf, Nipawin, North Battleford, Oak Lake, Ogema, Outlook, Paradise Hills, Pelly, Ponteix, Preeceville, Prince Albert, Redvers, Saskatoon, St. Walburg, Val Marie, Wilcox, Wilkie, Willow Bunch, and Yorkton.
In Manitoba, hail caused damage to barley, canola, corn, edible beans, fababeans, flax, lentils, mustard, oats, peas, rye, soybeans, sunflowers, and wheat. Communities impacted include Boissevain, Brandon, Cromer, Dauphin, Deloraine, Fisher Branch, Hamiota, Kenton, Killarney, Medora, Melita, Newdale, Oakburn, Pierson, Pilot Mound, Rapid City, Reston, Rivers, Roblin, Rossburn, Shoal Lake, Sinclair, Souris, Strathclair, Virden, and Wawanesa.
Ryhorchuk says canola and wheat were hit the most.
"Wheat now is starting to get into a lot of the areas, we're getting into the jointing stage, so they're getting more vulnerable here with hail. Canola is still, for the most part, still early enough that there's a really good chance that it can come back, but depending on severity of the crop, that has to be addressed on a situational basis."
He says the 2,000 claims so far is higher compared to previous years and anticipates more in the coming weeks.
"Unpredictable weather here as of late. We've been seeing really high levels of heat and storm activity for the short term here has slowed down, but we fully expect storms to pick back up here as this heat and high humidity continues."
Ryhorchuk's advice to farmers is be patient.
"We're seeing large areas of landmass that have been hit by hail, and with that, obviously that accentuates the amount of claims coming in," he said. "We're working diligently to get to your claims as quickly as possible, and we're doing the best we can given the high frequencies of claims that are coming through the door as an industry."
