Eugene Bouvier is an experienced cattle and grain farmer in Lisieux – a Fransaskois community 42 kilometres south of Assiniboia. Bouvier, who grew up in the Lisieux area, had been a cattle and grain producer in south central Saskatchewan for 53 years. “I’ve been farming since I was 18 and I’m 71 now,” Bouvier recounted.
Bouvier planted several acres of Kyle durum, but a storm in mid-July destroyed a large segment of the farmer’s crops. “This year, the second twister came on July 12, 2019 with hail, rain and a plough wind.” Bouvier said a plough wind was responsible for even more damage. Plough winds are straight-line winds capable of destroying areas in horizontal patterns in opposition to the rotational directions of tornadoes. When Bouvier tried to claim crop insurance, adjusters from the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation came to review two of his fields on July 12 and 19. “Found Eugene out cutting hay around the yard,” the report on July 19 began. “Talked to him about going to look at two fields that he put a claim on.”
When the investigator strolled over Bouvier’s fields on July 19, he reported they were covered in weeds, including “wild millet, wild mustard, buckwheat, Canada thistle, Russian thistle, sow thistle and buckbrush.” The investigator argued the crops on Bouvier’s property were poor to begin with, so the producer didn’t deserve a full pay out. “We walked the fields and did all the required counts and the highest count we had was 35 plants per square yard. With all the high weed pressure and low plant counts, the crop will be poor.”
The report concluded Bouvier’s crops weren’t established, so a full pay out wouldn’t be awarded. The reported also said Bouvier later phoned and left a message about possible frost damage after conducting some research, but an agrologist confirmed the last date of frost in the area happened on May 27.
The central argument for Bouvier’s claim is whether the producer’s crops were established or not by mid-June. According to the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation, Bouvier’s crops were dominated by fields of weeds. Bouvier stated the opposite – his fields were established; he deserved a full pay out.
After Bouvier appealed his claim, he received a letter from the SCIC on November 4, declaring the appeal for insurance was denied because the crops were much too poor before storm this summer. Bouvier’s crops, according to the corporation, weren’t insurable in 2019. But Bouvier said the eruption of wind, hail and rain in July had taken every trace of the seeded crops before the adjusters arrived. Bouvier also gave pictorial testimony of healthy, weed-less and tilled fields from June 17, nearly a month before July’s storm. June is a significant month for producers and insurers alike. The SCIC’s policy in the corporation’s letter to Bouvier in November said “crop acres must be established about pre-determined plant counts as of June 20 to be considered eligible for full yield loss coverage.”
Although the SCIC said they’d done their best to address Bouvier’s claim, the grain and cattle producer said he is still waiting for a full claim after this year’s luckless harvest.
