Ontario egg producers eye new opportunities for salmonella insurance

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Clarification and correction added 3:58 p.m. May 5, 2014

by MATT MCINTOSH

The Manitoba Farm Products Marketing Council ruled this past January that egg producers in the province can purchase salmonella insurance from organizations other than Manitoba Egg Farmers SEE CLARIFICATION BELOW, and Harry Pelissero, general manager for Egg Farmers of Ontario, says his organization is open to similar circumstances here at home.

“We as an entity require egg producers in Ontario to carry salmonella insurance, but if there is another company farmers want to look at, then we can support that,” says Pelissero.

United Kingdom-based mutual insurance company Associated Electrical and Gas Insurance Services, announced in a June 2 press release it has recently received the green light by Manitoba Egg Farmers for offering a poultry disease insurance product, meaning producers now have more than one choice when it comes to salmonella insurance.

Pelissero says Ontario producers currently have to purchase insurance from the Poultry Insurance Exchange, an organization he describes as a farmer owned co-op providing “complete supply chain insurance,” meaning insurance that applies to birds from one day to nineteen weeks old. Right now, the Exchange is the only group offering such insurance, but Pelissero says he has heard of others expressing interest in the Ontario market.  

Any new types of insurance, says Pelissero, would have to cover pullets and laying hens, but would not otherwise be required to provide other forms of insurance coverage throughout the supply chain.

“As long as they can prove to us that they have salmonella insurance, we are fine with them looking at other options that might work better for them,” he says. BF

CLARIFICATION June 5, 2014 3:58 p.m.: Cory Rybuck, Manitoba Egg Farmers general manager, writes in a June 5 email that the supply managed commodity organization does not offer salmonella insurance.

"Farmers here have two options," Rybuck writes: "the Canadian Egg Industry Reciprocal Alliance (CEIRA) which is a farmer-owned reciprocal similar to PIE . . . and a commercial policy offered by private insurance company." BF