Add StudioX as a preferred source on GoogleOkanagan grape growers say British Columbia’s production insurance program is not protecting them after wildfire smoke tainted much of the valley’s 2026 crop, according to a report from Insurance Business. Their central complaint is that coverage is based on past yields, so it shrinks after successive bad years.
Smoke from August wildfires, including the Bald Range fire near Summerland, contaminated grapes across the region. Smoke taint gives wine an ashy, smoky flavour and can make the fruit unusable. Some growers have lost entire harvests.
Ron Kubek, owner of Lightning Rock Winery in Summerland, said all of his 2026 grapes are unusable. He will have to buy fruit from other growers to make wine.
How the coverage works
Under BC’s grape production insurance, growers can insure 50%, 70% or 80% of their “probable yield.” They are paid when an insured peril pushes the harvest below that level. The listed perils are hail, spring frost, drought, flood, wind, landslide, fire, rain and freeze. Smoke is not listed as a separate peril.
Jesse Gill, owner of Okanagan Hills Winery Group, said probable yield is based on historical production averages. When climate events cut yields year after year, those averages fall, and coverage falls with them. He estimated his crop would have been worth about $600,000 this year without smoke taint. Because of earlier losses, he said, it is insured for only about $130,000.
Growers also point to a second problem. They say only harvested grapes qualify for claims under the program’s rules, and tainted fruit cannot be sold for other uses such as animal feed. To claim, they say, the fruit must be destroyed. That adds harvesting and disposal costs for a crop with no value.
US tools and private gaps
Insurance Business notes that US federal crop insurance has tools aimed at both issues. Its Yield Adjustment provision lets growers whose yields drop sharply substitute a higher figure in their production history. That limits how far one bad year drags down their insured yield.
US grape growers can also buy a Fire Insurance Protection Smoke Index endorsement. It pays when a minimum number of smoke events hit their county. An individual vineyard can still have losses that do not trigger a payment.
Private insurance has gaps too. Kubek’s private insurer declined to cover his tasting room’s several-week closure as business interruption. It told him he could still sell wine online and wholesale, Business in Vancouver reported.
Wider effects on the industry
Gill said some wineries have cancelled contracts with growers because they cannot afford their usual volumes. Wine Growers British Columbia has described the industry as facing a triple blow: lost grapes, cancelled contracts and fewer tourists.
The province’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food declined to comment last month. It cited caretaker rules during an election campaign.
Insurance Business says the dispute shows how production coverage based on past yields can leave clients underinsured after a run of losses. It advises brokers working with vineyards and wineries to help clients understand their actual probable yield and coverage level before the next fire season. It also recommends reviewing private policy wording on business interruption, especially conditions that let insurers point to alternative sales channels. Brokers should also check for gaps in inventory and contract cancellation cover.
Source: Insurance Business
Harnaik Singh Rathor is the Founder, Publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of StudioX News Canada, Canada's multilingual digital news network serving multilingual diaspora communities across Canada. With a background in media production, public relations, and multicultural communications, he founded StudioX Film and TV Corporation to bridge the gap between mainstream Canadian media and the country's diverse immigrant communities. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), RTDNA Canada, CPRS Vancouver, NEPMCC, and the Canadian Freelance Union (Unifor). Based in Surrey, British Columbia. | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harnaiksinghrathor/ | Muck Rack: https://muckrack.com/harnaiksinghrathor | Email: editor@studioxnews.ca
