Finland may compensate losses caused by swine fever restrictions

Finland may compensate some businesses for income losses caused by restrictions imposed to contain African swine fever, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Sari Essayah said, according to Yle. She said it was too early to discuss compensation in detail while the infection zone was still changing.

“For now, the main focus is on combating the disease,” Essayah said.

African swine fever was found in dead wild boar in late July in Virolahti in southeastern Finland. The Finnish Food Authority imposed restrictions covering Virolahti, Miehikkälä and Ylämaa in southern Lappeenranta.

The Food Authority reported 11 new cases in Virolahti on Wednesday. The disease was found in wild boar discovered on Friday, some of them outside the core zone, about one kilometre north of its boundary near the border with Miehikkälä.

The situation for grain farmers has improved after the restrictions were amended last Friday. Grain from the infection zone can now be used freely if it is stored for 30 days at temperatures above zero and kept out of pigs’ reach.

The Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners, known as MTK, had called for the state to temporarily buy and store grain from the infection zone. The harvest affected is estimated at between 20,000 and 25,000 tonnes, worth about five million euros.

The state will not make direct purchases. Large grain buyers have so far been unwilling to accept grain from the zone, while Suomen Viljava, Finland’s largest company specialising in grain, feed and fertiliser storage, has prepared to provide additional storage if local farms lack capacity.

Forestry companies in the zone are also affected. Restrictions prevent them from carrying out logging or even sawing firewood in the forest. Essayah said losses could be substantial if companies’ logging and other work were concentrated in the zone.

Sweden has taken a relatively strict approach to compensation, according to Essayah. Lost hunting opportunities have not been compensated, but costs for disinfecting machinery have been covered in some cases.

“Direct prevention of income generation may have entitled people to compensation,” Essayah said.

She declined to estimate when the compensation issue could be considered in more detail, saying that the overall situation must first be known. Essayah is due to meet representatives of MTK, Suomen Viljava and the Food Authority on Thursday. Parliament’s Agriculture and Forestry Committee is also scheduled to discuss African swine fever this week.

Suomen Viljava already accepts rapeseed and canola from the infection zone and stores it at its facility in Kirkniemi, Lohja. Only oilseed crops are accepted there, and the company said it had ensured that nothing from the facility enters the pig-feed supply chain.

The company is preparing temporary storage for other grains in locations including Vainikkala in Lappeenranta, just outside the infection zone. Chief Executive Jarkko Arrajoki said the facility would be established there only if grain buyers needed the additional capacity.

Arrajoki said the practices introduced to prevent the spread of African swine fever resemble the controls used to prevent salmonella. Companies’ own monitoring procedures had helped considerably in the situation, he said.