US farmers get foot-and-mouth insurance

Farmers in the US are being offered insurance policies to cover income lost should foot-and-mouth disease ever reach America.

The cover being offered by a Lloyd's of London subsidiary is believed to the first such insurance in the world.

The policies are designed to pick up where government compensation would leave off.

Cover will be limited to $20m (£14m) per state.

Larry Lawson, who is tracking applications for the policies through Farm Credit Services, a network of Government-sponsored banks, says he has had a lot of inquiries without any advertising.

He added: "I think we're starting to see it snowball quite a bit."

The Agriculture Department says it would compensate producers for the fair market value, but not for the income they would lose during the quarantine.

Foot-and-mouth disease was eradicated from the US in 1929.

Whether farmers are worried enough about either of the diseases to buy the insurance - which costs $15 (£10.50) for a dairy cow and $5 (£3.50) per head for beef cattle - remains to be seen.