A temporary crop insurance expansion that covers Ontario farms against crop losses due to “on-farm labour disruptions” caused by COVID-19 will be held over for yet another year.
Agricorp, the province’s farm program delivery agency, announced in late December the feature first introduced in 2020 will be included again in 2022, at the same coverage level provided in the 2021 program year.
Agricorp said it will automatically add the coverage to customer policies for 2022 and farmers won’t need to sign up to get it. Insured farms will be covered for the COVID-19 labour disruption peril whether they chose multi-peril or a single peril of hail, frost, or hail and frost.
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Specifically, the coverage is for production losses that are due to a producer’s illness or quarantine due to COVID-19; an inability to fulfill contracted on-farm labour due to COVID-19; and/or illness or quarantine of on-farm labour due to COVID-19.
In those cases, the policy will include production loss coverage for yield-based commodities; abandonment threshold coverage for fresh vegetables, on an acreage loss basis; mortality loss coverage for fruit trees and grape vines; and colony loss coverage for bee health.
Such losses will be covered for the “full duration” of a farm’s 2022 policy, from when the crop is planted until harvest or until the end of the farm’s policy term, Agricorp said.
That means it covers on-farm labour disruption losses through the growing season for the insured commodity — such as labour required to care for a crop after planting — as well as on-farm labour disruptions at harvest.
A farmer covered for such losses will need to contact Agricorp “without delay” if yield losses or mortalities in trees, vines or bees take place due to on-farm labour disruption.
The coverage applies to all commodities except forage, Agricorp said, and does not apply to coverages not listed above — that is, coverages such as unseeded acreage, replanting, salvage or bypassed acreage. It also doesn’t cover crops intended to be harvested in 2023 — for example, winter wheat seeded this fall.
The added coverage also doesn’t extend to “post-harvest” labour disruption losses such as in an on-farm or off-farm packing house or processing facility, nor to transportation of crops.
It also won’t cover loss of market for any reason, including COVID-19 — for example, a lack of customers at a U-pick farm. Losses that “cannot be verified” or aren’t directly related to the insured farm’s operations also won’t be covered.
Also, Agricorp noted, “it is important to understand that this added peril will not increase the existing limits of your coverage, but will be assessed within them.”
The coverage also requires farmers to make a “good faith effort to secure sufficient labour” for the 2022 program year, Agricorp said, meaning the agency may ask for information about steps taken to secure labour. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
