Foot and mouth disease outbreak would be costly

An outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease (FMD) in Ontario would result in losses of about $864 million for the beef industry, writes Kenneth Poon, associate director for advanced study of food and agriculture policy at the University of Guelph.

If the outbreak occurs in Western Canada and doesn’t spread to Ontario, Ontario’s beef industy’s losses would be about $275 million.

Most of the losses would come from trading bans that would cut off export markets.

Poon did the study in the context of new international trade agreements and negotiations that increase meat imports and therefore increase the risk that FMD would spread to Canada.