WESTERN PRODUCER — Insurers and government need to work together to better support farmers and others when weather-related disasters occur, said a panelist at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture annual meeting.
Dan Watchorn, vice-president of commercial and farm insurance at Co-operators, said these events are becoming more common, and 2024 was a record year.
“The problem is real and we need to look for different solutions to how we respond,” he said.
Watchorn said data from past events could be used to help farms and communities weatherproof. In turn, that could possibly lead to reduced premiums. Co-operators last year launched a program called Tomorrow Strong, which offered farm and home policyholders reimbursement on specific upgrades.
Instead of simply repairing structures, it allowed people to build back better and more sustainably, he said.
“But we can’t be the only insurer in Canada doing that,” he said.
“I think there needs to be a comprehensive look at how we as an industry can respond and encourage this.”
Watchorn said balancing loss prevention with indemnity is key as weather-related disasters happen. He added some of the recent events in the United States have cost more than $100 billion, and there are many who wouldn’t have had insurance at all.
“Insurers are pulling out of certain areas where the risk is becoming too severe. We need to prevent that from happening in Canada,” he said, adding that it already is in some places.
Tom Rosser, assistant deputy minister of the market and industry services branch at Agriculture Canada, said the federal government did allow people to build back better in its response to the atmospheric river in British Columbia and Hurricane Fiona in Atlantic Canada.
He said everyone has to be smarter about building in resiliency and lessening vulnerability. The main tools of federal response are AgriRecovery and Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements.
“We have talked about, with our AgriInsurance programs, for example, can we incentivize through a premium structure where people take measures to reduce their vulnerability,” Rosser said.
The government is also working on how to make mental health supports part of its disaster response.
Matt Dykshoorn is a B.C. dairy farmer who was flooded out by the atmospheric river in 2021.
He said the farm is in a low zone and was flooded in 1990. After that, the family built its lowest barn 30 centimetres higher than before; they were told that type of flooding could never happen again.
But the rain began on a Friday and by Sunday night he and his father worked all night to move hay and straw up to higher barns. They decided to leave the cattle in the barn since it was on a ridge.
“Nothing could prepare us for what we did experience,” Dykshoorn told the meeting.
“The water was three feet higher than in 1990, so we ended up with cows underwater, standing in water for 24 hours.”
A dike eventually broke, which lessened his problem but flooded others.
They went into cleanup mode for a few weeks until they evacuated the herd due to another threatened flood.
“The next two years was just getting the farm back up to speed, getting crop rotations in, getting calving cycles back and all that. It was a long haul,” he said.
His experience with insurance and AgriRecovery went relatively well. The family didn’t have flood insurance because of the farm’s location.
“The AgriRecovery was integral,” he said.
“For sure we had a very positive experience with our farm. I know some farms struggled with it more. It is a lot of paperwork under a tonne of duress.”
His father lost a flock of chickens, which was covered under livestock peril, but there was no insurance for cleanup and repair costs.
Dykshoorn said they ended up reseeding the entire farm and basically started from scratch. It took their cattle about two years to “really find their groove again.”
B.C. Cattlemen’s Association executive director Kevin Boon said full recovery never really happens when going from one disaster to the next. The atmospheric river came about a month after the second-largest fire ever seen in the province.
People trying to rebuild from fire then watched land wash away in the flood. He said there is post-traumatic stress years afterward, and mental health supports are important.
However, he said prevention is critical. Cattle are now grazing fine fuels outside many towns and cities in B.C. to reduce fuel loads. He criticized the province for mismanaging the landscape and allowing deadfall from mountain pine beetle infestations to remain as fuel.
In the meantime, Dykshoorn said they are talking about moving their barn higher again. However, he worries that little is being done to prevent future flooding.
“Most of that water originates in Washington state, and unfortunately we can’t dike the river for them,” he said.
They have plans in place for moving equipment, young stock, and then the milking herd.
Boon said streamlining processes would help.
“When I got evacuated I had to go through three different regional districts for permitting to get back to my place. Unacceptable,” he said.
Producers now can get permits in evacuation zones to access hay crops to save feed.
Rosser added government is using data to identify areas that are particularly vulnerable to certain types of weather events and examining its programs as a result.
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