By Alice McFarlane

Livestock producers coming back to insurance program

Apr 28, 2023 | 11:36 AM

It appears more livestock producers are taking advantage of an insurance program.

The Western Livestock Price Insurance (LPI) is a business risk-management program where producers purchase price protection on livestock in the form of an insurance policy.

LPI is available in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba and provides producers with protection against unexpected drops in prices over a defined period.

Jodie Griffin is the Program Coordinator at Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation. She said participation backed off during the pandemic but there have been more producers coming back.

“We are seeing active participation. I would say actually participation is tracking right up there with our pre-COVID participation rates,” Griffin said. “Through COVID we’ve seen participation lag behind and that just had to do with volatilities in the market, the cost to buy insurance and so forth. Premium rates are quite attractive.”

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Griffin said for cattle producers, LPI offers three programs. Two of the programs, for feeder cattle and fed cattle, are available to purchase year-round. The third is the calf program which is offered in the spring and covers the price risk a cow-calf producer faces selling calves in the September to February markets. The settlement index is based on the average price of a 600-pound steer. Griffin said the deadline to participate is Jun. 9.

Griffin said the program establishes a floor price on the market for a defined period.

“This is the only risk management tool for our producers in Western Canada that allows for a producer to have a policy in place that establishes a floor price, but still allows for upswing potential should the market continue to rise,” she said.

It’s important to note the program also protects against extreme prices we’re seeing now, according to Griffin.

“When you do come to the market you’ve got that floor price in place. If the market happens to go even higher, you’re not going to be restricted with your policy so you’re able to take advantage of that,” she said.

Producers are encouraged to sign up for the program and monitor the tables on the website. Griffin said anyone can take a look at the coverage and see what is being offered.

“The best thing to do is to log on to our website, which publishes the premium tables we offer each day of the week, which is Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays,” she said. “The days that producers can buy they can purchase from 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon until 11:00 p.m. of that day.”

Producers can also speak to representatives who can help them walk through how the premium tables are performing.

“If you’re not enrolled at this point, you can call crop insurance and they’ll make sure to get you set up to do that as well. When you enroll into the program it doesn’t obligate you to buy a policy and it’s a one-time enrollment,” she said.

Griffin said statistics are gathered once the deadline has passed.

“We tabulate all of our numbers, and then we’ll publish it probably towards the end of June,” she said. “I just watch where we are today versus where are we at before and, like I said, we’re trending back to those pre COVID levels.”

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW