Crop Insurance Expansion to Non Crop Production

Legislation that would allow Crop Insurance to be expanded to non-crop farm production is being debated in the Ontario legislature under the proposed Bill 40. The bill is enabling legislation only, allowing the Minister to designate other farm production to be covered by the current Ontario Crop Insurance program. Coverage for other farm production has been prohibited by current legislation. The risk management delivered by an insurance program could encourage more farm families to invest and grow their businesses and help Ontario prosper.

The proposed changes allow for expanded risk management beyond the traditional insurable crops. It will be up to the farm community to make the case for the expanded insurance. This more inclusive legislation will, at the very least, open the door for intelligent discussion as to how farmers can best manage their risk exposure.

Some future insurance plans might include:

Insurance for the honey bee industry -  In recent years some bee keepers have experienced major losses of their colonies. The province has provided some assistance on an ad-hoc basis but a consistent, longer term insurance program would be much more bankable and provide more comfort for the farm creditors.

Insurance for catastrophic livestock and poultry diseases - The pork industry has been hit with a catastrophic disease known as PED. It is lethal to young pigs - killing thousands of piglets in the last few years in Canada and the USA. Governments have provided some assistance on an ad-hoc basis to affected pork producers, but an established, consistent insurance program would be more bankable. The poultry industry is vulnerable to several bird diseases that can kill thousands of birds in just a few hours. Regardless of how rigorous the bio-security protocols that are in place, outbreaks do occur. Currently we see Avian Flu outbreaks in Montana, Dakota and now Ontario. Insurance would provide a tool to reduce the risk that farmers take. The cattle and sheep industry were hard hit by BSE in 2003, devastating the industry. Governments did provide assistance on an ad-hoc basis, which was sincerely appreciated. But here again a bankable program with clear outcomes would be preferred over ad-hoc programs.

Insurance for exotic world diseases invading Canada - More extreme weather patterns may bring new diseases to our country. Our Canadian population travels to all corners of the planet, making Canadian farms vulnerable. We don’t know what future disease mutations may be a challenge to our farms and food supply. Insurance coverage is preferred to begging governments for new ad-hoc programs.

We need to add a caveat to our advice to legislators - the expansion of the program to include non-crop farm production should not reduce financial support for existing insured crops.

This is good legislation and should be welcomed by the farm community. It is a new vehicle to better manage farm risk.

Source: CFFO