Rewarding Best Pest Management Practices via Reduced Crop Insurance Premiums

Table 3

Hypothetical crop insurance proportional or weighted discounts for varying levels of implementation of three potential best herbicide resistance management tactics and practices in annual crop systems in the Northern Great Plains of Canada.

	Discount (proportion)
(i) Crop rotation and weed competition:
Threshold crop seeding rate^a	0.06
Two crop types: cereal-oilseed or cereal-pulse	0.06
Three crop types: cereal-oilseed-pulse	0.18
Inclusion of cover crop in fallowed land	0.10
(ii) Pesticide use:
Not back-to-back high-risk^b herbicide use in-crop	0.12
Herbicide mixtures or sequences^c	0.12
Two modes of action in chemical fallow	0.06
(iii) Weed sanitation:
Certified or cleaned seed	0.06
Harvest weed seed control	0.12
Site-specific weed management	0.12
Total	1.0

Degree of adoption (maximum of 1.0) would be reflected in a best management practice index added to the loss ratio index in calculating a farmer’s insurance premium discount, similar to the actuarial approach proposed in the United States (Section 3.1.3). ^aEstablished for the different prairie soil climatic zones. ^bAcetyl-CoA carboxylase or acetolactate synthase inhibitor herbicides. ^cMeeting specified resistance management criteria.