The Manitoba government and the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC) have established two new trusts for Manitoba’s AgriInsurance and Hail Insurance programs.
“Establishing these trusts clearly demonstrates that these funds are strictly for the benefit of insured producers and provides greater transparency to the public in that these funds cannot be used by government for any other purposes,” said Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler. “The creation of these trusts, with MASC as the trustee, will provide continued assurance to participating producers the Manitoba government is committed to the industry and that these funds will be available when needed.”
Budget 2018 included Manitoba’s Fiscal Responsibility Strategy: Keeping Our Promises, which set clear objectives to manage future financial volatility, and to improve financial transparency and accountability. It also put a greater focus on summary or ‘whole of government’ reporting for all departments and approximately 180 other reporting entities including MASC. The minister noted establishing the trusts will help achieve these goals.
As the trustee, MASC will remain in control of these funds and ensure they are solely for the benefit of Manitoba’s participating agricultural producers. The trusts will ensure that funds are only used for the benefit of insured producers and that no changes to the programs are forthcoming. This change protects these funds from use by future governments, and puts Manitoba on the leading edge allowing producers to protect their money.
“MASC is committed to supporting Manitoba’s financial reporting initiative,” said Jim Wilson, chair of MASC. “I also want to assure agricultural producers that their contributions to the trusts will be available to pay indemnities when protection is needed in years of adversity and challenging weather conditions.”
AgriInsurance and Hail Insurance are the first line of defence for the crop sector by providing agricultural producers with effective insurance products to manage production risks caused by weather, such as rain, hail or drought.
Ensuring that these types of insurance tools are available is one way the Manitoba government supports the industry in its efforts to produce a consistent supply of quality raw product. The minister noted this is crucial to attracting value-added investment to Manitoba, such as the almost $1 billion in recent investments by Roquette and Simplot.
AgriInsurance programs across Canada operate under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal, provincial and territorial agreement. Premiums are cost-shared among the federal and provincial governments, as well as producers. The Hail Insurance program, including administration costs, is solely funded by premiums paid by producers.
