Insurance news includes livestock price pilot

livestock insurance news

A new coverage program has now been launched in Canada for hog and cattle producers.

A new livestock price coverage program has now been launched in Canada and is now making insurance news headlines as it works to help cattle and hog producers in the western provinces to cope with pricing risks.

The program was announced by the federal government and will run for the next four years.

livestock insurance newsThis insurance news was unveiled at the Canadian Bull Congress in Alberta, by the federal government and the western provinces. It is called the Western Livestock Price Insurance Program and, according to agriculture officials, it will assist livestock producers in being able to make sure that they will reduce the risks of pricing their animals by purchasing coverage. The concept behind the program is to provide protection against unexpected drops in prices.

Similar insurance news occurred in 2009 when Alberta introduced coverage for livestock producers.

Alberta introduced the coverage in 2009 for hog and cattle producers, but this most recent pilot program will be broadening the program to include Saskatchewan and British Columbia, as well. According to Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart, for the province of Saskatchewan, “By providing livestock price insurance across Western Canada, we will be able to level the playing field, ensuring all producers have access to these important risk management tools.”

Stewart went on to say that this will also help in drawing “new, young producers to our industry,” and it will help in making a contribution to the livestock farming sector’s overall growth.

In Alberta, there are already around 900,000 cattle (just under one third of the cattle in the province) that already have coverage within the province’s program. In terms of hogs, nearly 10,000 are covered.

The recent news from the association also pointed out that the program could help farmers to be able to better manage some of the less predictable factors in cattle and hog farm ownership. The president of the association, Martin Unrau, put it this way: “It’s extremely important that we’re on a level playing field when it comes to raising cattle in Canada.”

It is the hope that this insurance news will one day make its way across all of Canada, said Unrau, but to start they will be focusing on the three western provinces that they feel will be able to receive the greatest benefit from mitigating the pricing risks.

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