Avian influenza is threatening to destroy poultry businesses – because insurers are reluctant to offer cover for the notifiable disease.

Turkey farmers appear to be acutely vulnerable, with many small and medium rearers unable to get insurance, leaving them open to an entire year with no income if the virus was to show up within their flock.

NFU Scotland poultry chair Robert Thompson said: “The threat of the disease is immense. From our understanding, very few insurers are offering cover for bird flu and those who do, are very expensive with rigorous caveats on biosecurity protocols.”

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Summer typically sees fewer outbreaks of the disease, but so far in September alone there have been nine cases in the UK. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs confirmed cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 had been found in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex since Saturday, and have began culling birds this week. Fortunately few confirmed cases have been in Scotland so far.

Mr Thompson, a poultry rearer who works for T Pak based in Forfar, said: “If someone goes down with bird flu you have the obvious massive loss as they cull the flock, but there is also huge cleaning and disinfection costs afterwards. The union is working to understand how businesses can get insurance for these losses but we are finding underwriters are loath to support policies for avian influenza. We have a committee meeting coming up to explore what can be done and we are taking the Scottish Farming Minister to visit a poultry farm this week to raise the issue.

“Some poultry farmers have a rolling forward policy but that policy is getting more and more expensive," he added. "We will be asking the government what support can be given to farmers who are affected by the disease.”

The threat of an avian flu outbreak on farms is all the more acute for turkey units who typically only have one crop of animals per year. If they suffer an outbreak and have to cull all their birds, they are looking at a year of expenses with no income which could push many out of business.

Mr Thompson said: “We all want to help those who have been stricken down with the disease but the best things is to avoid it in the first place. The answer is improved biosecurity to keep the disease out of flocks. I know first-hand that many poultry units are working hard to have perfect biosecurity but unfortunately in too many cases measures to keep the disease at bay are missing. The message has to get across to industry that we need to do our best to keep the disease out.

“We also need a drive to ensure that the hundreds of backyard flocks, where people keep a few hens, respect the government biosecurity requirements, as and when they come in this winter.”