Excess Moisture Insurance (EMI) compensates producers who cannot seed their crops on or before June 20 due to excessively wet conditions. In 2000, the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation introduced EMI to Manitoba producers as a basic component of the AgriInsurance program.
EMI has a standard deductible of 5% of the total acres available for seeding. MASC will adjust your deductible according to your recent EMI claim history.
A Reduced Deductible Option is available that allows you to buy-down your deductible to 5%.
The EMI program also has a High Dollar Value Option that allows you to buy-up coverage from the basic $ per acre to $ or $ per acre.
Notes for the Crop Year:
The deadline for making changes to EMI options for the crop year is November 30.
Rented land must be added to your AgriInsurance contract on or before March 31 to be eligible for EMI coverage in . Rented land added after March 31 will continue to be eligible for AgriInsurance coverage for seeded crops and Hail Insurance, but not EMI.
Land purchased on or before June 30 of the crop year is eligible for EMI.
You first need to sign up for an AgriInsurance contract at a . By default, you'll be assigned a standard EMI deductible of 5%, which in future will be adjusted according to your EMI claim history.
Changes to EMI options (Reduced Deductible Option, High Dollar Value Option) that you wish to make must be made by November 30 prior to the crop year. If you're new to AgriInsurance and no changes are made before this date, you will be assigned the standard EMI deductible of 5% with no options enabled.
If you have previous experience in AgriInsurance and no changes are made before November 30, you will be assigned your adjusted EMI deductible and the options you selected from the previous crop year.
Rented land must be added to your AgriInsurance contract on or before March 31 of the crop year to be eligible for EMI.
Purchased land will be eligible for EMI if it's added to your AgriInsurance contract on or before June 30 of the crop year.
If your unseeded acreage is greater than 10 acres and greater than your deductible, you will receive an indemnity.
All producers insured by MASC (including landlords with a crop share agreement) are provided with EMI coverage.
All acres that are normally available for spring seeding are eligible. Acreage under sod, pasture or perennial forage is only eligible for EMI, provided such acreage is destroyed on or before June 10 and is ready for spring seeding.
You're eligible for an EMI claim if you're unable to seed (on or before June 20) due to excessively wet conditions (with a minimum of 10 unseeded acres). A deductible is calculated based on all eligible acres. The number of acres affected by excessive moisture must exceed the deductible before a claim is in effect.
Eligible Land
All acreage available for crop seeding is eligible for EMI, except:
acreage under bush, brush, fall rye or winter wheat, unless it was destroyed the previous year and is ready for seeding;
acreage under sod, pasture or perennial forage, unless it is destroyed on or before June 10;
acreage not seeded in the previous year due to excess moisture that could have been prepared for seeding, but was not; and
acreage declared by MASC as being uninsurable.
Costs & Coverage
All Manitoba producers participating in AgriInsurance pay $ per acre for basic Excess Moisture Insurance (EMI), which is 40% of the total premium cost for basic EMI.
EMI Deductible
The EMI program has a standard deductible of 5% of your total acres available for seeding. Your EMI deductible increases by 5% the year following an EMI claim, and decreases by 5% (to a minimum of 5%) the year following a non-claim year.
Reduced Deductible Option (RDO)
You can buy down your deductible to the minimum 5% by choosing the EMI Reduced Deductible Option (RDO). A minimum deductible conforms with the Canada Production Insurance Regulations (Federal) requirement that all insurance programs have a deductible.
Higher Dollar Value Options (HDVOs)
The Higher Dollar Value Options (HDVOs) let you buy up your coverage from the basic $ per acre to $ or $ per acre.
Producers pay 40% of the premiums for the $ per acre basic coverage and $ per acre HDVO. For the $ per acre HDVO, producers pay 67% of the premium for the extra $25 per acre coverage, in addition to 40% of the first $100 per acre of coverage. The remainder of the premium for basic coverage and HDVO are paid by the federal and provincial governments. Producers pay 100% of the RDO premium.
EMI Coverage Options
EMI coverage options can be combined in the follow ways:
Basic EMI Coverage - no selection required; applies to all AgriInsurance contracts
Basic EMI coverage with Reduced Deductible Option
Basic EMI coverage with one of the $ per acre OR the $ per acre Higher Dollar Value Options
Basic EMI coverage with Reduced Deductible Option and one of the $ per acre OR the $ per acre Higher Dollar Value Options
Total producer premium costs per acre are as follows:
Comparison of EMI Coverage & Producer Share of Premium Costs (per acre)
MASC does NOT pay an EMI indemnity if less than 10 acres of a farm (or by unit if a landlord contract applies) cannot be seeded due to excessive moisture.
Example EMI Deductible Calculations
Example 1: Decreasing Base Deductible
If your base deductible is 15% as a result of previous years' claims, it would only increase if your EMI claim acres exceeded 15% of your eligible acres, even if you have selected the EMI Reduced Deductible Option.
Scenario: You have 1000 eligible acres, but 100 acres are too wet to seed.
Deductible:
With a 15% base deductible and the RDO selected (5%), your deductible acres = 1000 x 5% = 50 deductible acresClaim acres:
100 acres too wet to seed - 50 acre deductible = 50 acre claim
In this example, your base deductible of 15% of 1000 acres is 150 acres (brought down to 50 acres by the RDO selection). Since your acres too wet to seed in (100 acres) are less than 150 acres, this is not considered a loss year and your base deductible will decrease to 10% in .
Example 2: Increasing Base Deductible
If your base deductible is 15% as a result of previous years' claims, the base deductible will increase if your EMI claim acres exceed your base deductible acres, even if you have selected the EMI Reduced Deductible Option.
Scenario: You have 1000 eligible acres, but 250 acres are too wet to seed.
Deductible:
With a 15% base deductible and the RDO selected (5%), your deductible acres = 1000 x 5% = 50 deductible acresClaim acres:
250 acres too wet to seed - 50 acre deductible = 200 acre claim
In this example, your base deductible is 150 acres (15% of 1000 acres, brought down to 50 acres by the RDO selection). Since your acres too wet to seed in (250 acres) exceed your base deductible (150 acres), your base deductible will increase to 20% in .
Landlord Obligations
As an eligible landlord, you have the same deductible as your tenant. For example, if the tenant selects the EMI Reduced Deductible Option, it automatically applies to you as landlord, and you must then pay your share of the premium costs.
Scenario: As landlord, you rent 1000 acres on a crop-share basis to your tenant neighbour. The contract states that you (the landlord) and your neighbour (the tenant) share all costs and revenues on a basis of 1/3 by the landlord and 2/3 by the tenant. In , your tenant did not file an EMI claim on the insured acres. In , the tenant has EMI with a 5% base deductible. The total cost of EMI Insurance $ x 1000 = $.
Landlord Obligations
Landlord Obligations
Premium
Indemnity
Tenant
= $ x 66.7%
= $
2/3rds of any eligible indemnity
Landlord
= $ x 33.3%
= $
1/3rd of any eligible indemnity
Important Dates
Though a basic component of AgriInsurance, Excess Moisture Insurance has several important program-specific deadlines:
November 30 (prior to crop year) is the last day to apply for or make changes to the EMI Reduced Deductible Option and the EMI Higher Dollar Value Option.
March 31 is the last day to add new land to your AgriInsurance contract to be eligible for EMI.
June 10: For any acreage under sod, pasture or perennial forage to qualify for EMI, the acreage must be destroyed on or before June 10 and be ready for spring seeding.
June 20: Insured producers unable to seed their crop on or before June 20 due to excessively wet conditions are eligible for an EMI indemnity.
June 22 (June 23 for 2025) is the last day to submit your Seeded Acreage Report (SAR) to file an EMI claim without late fees.
June 23 - June 30 is the last period in which you can submit a late EMI claim. MASC will accept SARs filed during this period; however, the EMI claim is considered late and producers are charged a late filing fee. The late fees are 25% of the EMI indemnity, to a maximum of $1,000.00. Late claim indemnities are only paid if MASC can establish that the land could not be seeded on or before June 20 due to excessively wet conditions.
June 30: EMI claims will not be accepted after June 30.
MASC uses your Seeded Acreage Report (SAR) to determine if you have an EMI claim. If your acreage unseeded due to excess moisture exceeds your deductible acreage, you'll be paid an indemnity on the difference (multiplied by your selected dollar value).
Claim Examples
Claim Example
You have a 5% EMI deductible and have selected basic $ per acre EMI coverage. You report on your Seeded Acreage Report (SAR) that you seeded 300 acres to canola and summerfallowed 100 acres, but you were unable to seed 50 acres because of excessive moisture.
In this example, you receive an indemnity on the 50 acres you were unable to seed because of excessively wet conditions. You must, however, pay an EMI premium on all of the 450 eligible acres.
In all cases, the minimum amount of a claim is 10 acres (whether or not you have selected the EMI Reduced Deductible Option).
