Overview

Ontario farmers constantly face livestock and crop damage from wildlife. The Ontario government’s compensation programs are important to farmers who deal with the loss of livestock and crops because of wildlife.

Livestock Losses
The Ontario Wildlife Damage Compensation Program (OWDCP) provides compensation to poultry and livestock producers for losses caused by Ontario wildlife.

In January 2019, the provincial government introduced new program guidelines to the Ontario Wildlife Damage Compensation Program (OWDCP). These changes were a direct result of OFA’s joint advocacy efforts with our livestock commodity partners and corrected many of the issues that arose from previous guideline changes implemented in 2017.

While we feel there is still room for improvement, since the new program guidelines were introduced in 2019, the number of denied claims made by livestock farmers has decreased significantly.

Crop Damage
Farmers incur crop production losses caused by a variety of Ontario wildlife ranging from migratory birds to deer. Unfortunately, Ontario crop producers are not effectively compensated for losses caused by Ontario wildlife. As currently designed, available Production Insurance plans do not adequately address crop losses caused by wildlife when losses occur year after year. Claims under crop insurance are triggered when a producer’s yield falls below their Average Farm Yield (AFY), which is calculated using up to 10 years of actual reported yields. Year after year crop damage caused by wildlife lowers a crop producer’s AFY and so repetitive damage will not trigger a crop insurance claim in any given year.

OFA Position
OFA believes farmers should be compensated for damage caused by wildlife.

OFA also believes the Ontario Wildlife Damage Compensation Program would benefit from further revisions, particularly on the issue of what is considered acceptable evidence under the program guidelines.

OFA notes that Ontario crop producers are not effectively compensated for losses caused by Ontario wildlife. Therefore, OFA recommends that the Ontario government create a wildlife damage compensation program to compensate crop producers for the losses they experience due to Ontario wildlife.