The British Columbia government’s Farm Industry Review Board
has nixed plans by the poultry marketing boards to join a national insurance
program for disease-related losses.
The government reasons for refusing permission to join
include the mandatory provisions that force all holders of poultry quota to
join.
The reciprocal insurance program was developed with a push
from Deborah Whale of Alma, Ont., now vice chairman of the Ontario Farm
Products Marketing Commission.
She pioneered the effort to insure farmers after it became
clear that governments would be unlikely to help a lot of farmers who could be
bankrupted by an outbreak of a contagious foreign disease, such as
high-pathogenic strains of avian influenza, foot and mouth disease or African
Swine Fever.
While there is direct federal government assistance for
farms directly hit by these named foreign animal diseases, there is nothing for
nearby farmers caught in a quarantine zone and unable to move anything in or
out.
Nor is there compensation for loss of export markets, as
happened to beef farmers when Canada confirmed its first case of Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy, or mad cow’s disease.
The B.C. Farm Industry Review Board did say it would be
prudent risk-management strategy for farmers to buy insurance.
The leaders of the marketing boards say the
insurance-industry partners involved in the program require all producers to be
included to make the program viable.
Maybe there's a reason why some Canadians refer to B.C. as la-la land.
