The Ontario Federation of Agricultures offers farmers advice on property insurance to mitigate best-case risk management.
By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com
If farming was easy, everyone would be interested in doing it.
Unfortunately, for all the opportunities to take in nature’s bounty, be outside, be one’s own boss, farmers are aware that along with adverse weather, volatile markets or supply chain issues, fire, flooding or even mechanical issues are also possible. It’s why every farmer has insurance coverage.
But are you properly covered?
Having insurance—and insurance that accurately reflects you and your farm—is an important factor of ensuring proper risk management.
A resolution brought forward by Leeds Federation to the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), suggested many farmers have concerns about their own insurance coverage, lacking clarity on how to best proceed.
OFA joined with insurance specialits, The Co-operators, to host a webinar presentation on farm insurance to share information about what they need to know when renewing their insurance policy.
Key to the presentation was insisting farmers have open communication with their own insurance broker to discuss if they have a policy specific to their farm business to avoid possible oversight on property or other assets.
It means ensuring all assets are properly valued and indicated in the policy and that you are covered as well as possible in the event of any unexpected loss to avoid the financial burden falling solely on the farmer. Ensuring the attention to detail is a must.
The presentation also explained that farmers should plan for annual meetings with their broker to explain any and all new farm assets—equipment, property, buildings—that have been purchased. In fact, whenever a new asset is added and/or subtracted, a call to the insurance broker is a must to ensure the farmer is covered.
Farmers should also discuss with their insurance broker all manner of farm management plans, maintenance plans and everything one does to protect the farm. Updating electrical, adding heating, regularly scheduled maintenance plans are just a few examples.
If you are uncertain whether or not you should call about something—call! Better safe than sorry, and there’s always the opportunity for your broker to ask the right question to elicit information from the farmer on things they may not even have considered important.
Always ensure that the farm asset reflects its true worth, and discuss replacement values with the broker to ensure one’s property insurance limits will allow for a payment to replace any damaged assets.
For those wishing to watch the OFA presentation in its entirety, click HERE.