Crop insurance increasing in Sask.

MELVILLE, Sask. — Crop insurance premiums and coverage levels are going up in Saskatchewan. Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart said premiums will average $8.51 an acre — up 67 cents an acre from last year’s average — because of the need to insure higher value crops such as lentils and canola. Stewart said coverage levels will increase by $1 to $217 an acre. The province will also pay out an estimated $650 million in crop insurance claims from 2016 because storms and excess moisture delayed harvest. About 1.3 million acres of crop is still on the fields. Stewart says the challenge will be getting that harvested before seeding this year. The $650 million is not a record loss: That was in 2002 when crop insurance paid out just over $1.2 billion because of a drought.