James Allen Insurance, a family-owned farm and ranch insurance company, announced today a first-of-its-kind coverage for Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) and Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) to pay farmers for a lack of production resulting from PRRS or PED.

“Pork producers have shown concern for both PRRS and PED as these diseases can severely lower production and have severe financial effects on their operations,” said Tim Craig, CEO of James Allen Insurance. “Hearing this need, we have created insurance coverage to transfer the financial risk of a break.” Veterinarians and professors at top universities say it is not a matter of if a break will occur but when it will happen. “This is very true,” said Craig; “take the PED break that happened in Oklahoma just a few weeks ago. The financial impact of that one event will have over a $15 million impact on pork producers in the state who were uninsured. The product our company offers would allow for all that risk to be transferred from the producer to our insurance policy, creating financial stability and peace of mind.”

As a highly contagious viral infection, PRRS and PED are hard to treat and easily spread. They are considered two of the most economically damaging diseases for the pork industry.

Capacity is limited and coverage will be placed on a first come, first serve basis, with expected exhaustion.