MASC launches satellite technology pilot for forage insurance

The federal and provincial governments have launched a pilot project that involves using satellite-based technology for the forage insurance program as administered by the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation.

The initiative will make it easier for forage producers to make claims and get their insurance payout quicker.

“We’re hoping to reduce…the amount of administration and how long it might take for a farmer to have their check in their hand if they did have a bad crop,” said MASC’s chief product officer David Van Deynze.

MASC will use microwave technology from satellites to measure the amount of moisture in the soil for forage crops and determine whether it was a good or bad crop season.

About 50 farmers will be participating in the pilot this growing season from across the province, including farmers in the Southeast. There is no cost to the farmer for participating.

“We’ve introduced it to a relatively small number of farmers and we’ve just asked them to look at the information that’s available, try and make that connection in their mind that, ‘Oh, yeah, what the satellite sees makes sense based on what I know of my farm from a forage perspective, from a soil moisture perspective.’ So, to hopefully gain confidence for MASC (and) gain confidence for farmers that this has potential. This could work,” said Van Deynze.

Farmers in the Southeast who are a part of the pilot declined an interview by The Carillon.

The results of the pilot will help determine whether this technology can be adopted permanently within AgriInsurance where forage claims are made. Van Deynze said farmers can not only anticipate having to do less paperwork, if any, but they won’t be required to meet with insurance adjusters, thus speeding up the claims process.

He said it normally takes 30 days from the time MASC receives all the information for a claim to the farmer receiving a cheque, which is usually between November and January. With satellite technology, farmers can expect to receive their money in August or September.

“We can use those satellite readings and we will tell them, ‘Hey, it looks like you’ve had a poor forage crop based on our satellite readings. Here’s some money.’ So, they don’t even have to tell us. We will hopefully tell them,” said Van Deynze.

Farmers involved in the pilot, who need to make a claim in the fall, can’t use the data from the satellites and will have to file using the standard administrative route.

MASC reported that 9.9 million acres were insured through the AgriInsurance program in the 2024-2025 growing season. That year, 5,869 claims were filed for a total of $246.9 million being paid out to producers, compared to $181.3 million for the season prior.

For forage establishment claims, $121,300 was paid out, while hay claims totalled $1.2 million in payouts.

“From what we understand, forage crops are quite good (so far this growing season). There’s been some challenges around getting the crop off because forage producers typically like to cut it, let it dry for a few days, and then bale it up,” said Van Deynze.

“(There have) been some challenges to find a few dry days in a row to get the forage crop to dry up and to bale, ultimately. But I think the volume is there, the yield is there from what I understand mostly, so that’s encouraging for sure.”

Van Deynze said the use of satellites in crop moisture evaluations is not new as the technology has been around for a number of years, but it is new to MASC and Manitoba’s forage farmers by connecting moisture to crop growth.

Only three provinces are using satellite technology for their crops, according to Van Deynze. Saskatchewan has been using satellites for this type of insurance for the past year. Alberta is also doing a pilot project with satellites and crops, but Manitoba is the first to use the technology for forage assessments.

“We’ll see what kind of reaction we get from the farmers who have access to the information today. And if they think that there’s some promise in this type of technology, then we’re going to figure out what that looks like for next year and beyond, whether we pilot again one more year or whether we decide it works or doesn’t work…So we’ve got some decisions to make, I guess, is the easy way to put it,” said Van Deynze.

The forage insurance program is part of MASC’s AgriInsurance suite, which provides predictable protection for producers against natural disasters such as drought, excess moisture, and other extreme weather events.

AgriInsurance is a federal, provincial, and producer cost shared program that helps farmers manage production and losses. Support for the program is provided by the governments of Canada and Manitoba under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

Farmers who are interested in the satellite program are encouraged to contact a MASC service centre.