The provincial government is considering expanding the current crop insurance program to include livestock.
Amendments proposed this week include changing the title of the act covering the program from the Crop Insurance Act to the Agriculture Insurance Act. Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal says giving more producers the chance to access production insurance will help them better manage risk.
He says it will also encourage greater innovation, profitability and job creation in the agri-food sector. The expanded act would support the industry in the event of unexpected loss of production for agriculture products. The minister says it would also bring Ontario in line with the rest of Canada.
It's not clear at this point whether that's a reference to some pilot insurance programs for livestock producers currently being run in Western Canada.
The provincial government says the expanded production insurance would fulfill a commitment made under last year's Growing Forward 2 agreement.
