Member companies of the Canadian Crop Hail Insurance Association paid out $230 million to Western Canadian grain farmers on nearly 11,000 hail claims this year.

The Canadian Crop Hail Association reports a coverage total of $10 billion this year, matching the record liability set in 2023. The season started unusually slow for claims, but picked up steam with a lot of late season claims from late August right up until the end of September.

Numbers are not yet finalized, but Scott McQueen of Palliser Insurance and president of the Canadian Crop Hail Association says the industry should see a loss ratio around 64 or 65 per cent, meaning 64 or 65 per cent of the premiums paid by farmers will be returned as insurance payouts. This is comparable to 2020 and 2018. Both 2023 and 2017 were significantly lower with loss ratios in the mid-40s and even 30s.

McQueen says higher loss ratios were experienced in 2022, 2021 and 2019. In fact, the 2021 loss ratio was over 100 per cent, meaning more money was paid out than collected in premiums.