Our community was saddened to hear of a local family losing their home to a fire the day before Thanksgiving. No time is a good time for such a loss, but the giving hearts of the surrounding area have helped this family with some short term needs.

As a homeowner, it made me stop and think, “Do I have enough insurance?” As an agent, I feel I do, but it got me thinking about my rural friends, many of whom own and/or operate farms.

If you have a small family farm, you need to be sure your coverage insures not only your home, but any agricultural equipment and outbuildings as well. If your farming operation includes livestock, it is beneficial to have coverage on those animals.

There are different options on how to arrange for coverage on your equipment and livestock. You can use Scheduled Coverage – which will provide specific dollar amounts for coverage. This is recommended for higher dollar items, such as your new combine and heads. If you have 3 tractors from the 1970’s, you would probably want to include them on a Blanket Coverage. Blanket coverage is a lump sum amount of items to be included on the farm policy. These items could include wagons, hand tools, power tools, fuel, hay and even stored grain. Any item that is necessary to run your farm operation should have some type of insurance coverage.

It’s important to note that most companies have a minimum amount of coverage required for Blanket coverage – so if you only have a few items, they would most likely be listed as Scheduled coverage.

Once you and your agent have gone through your farm inventory and decided which items to be scheduled and which to include on your blanket, it’s important to look at your liability coverage.

Not only does liability insurance cover bodily injury, medical expenses and property damage, it will also provide attorney’s fees if necessary. Liability needs to be associated with all farm land owned or operated by the insured.

There are also some items that need to have liability insurance attached, such as your ATV and/or MTV units that are being used off-site. If you are using an ATV on the roads to get from one farm location to another – you need to add liability coverage to those units.

It is important to carry enough liability insurance to protect your farming operations and assets. One unfortunate accident could put your family’s farm in jeopardy.

Liability insurance also needs to cover all parties involved in the operation. If it’s a larger family operation, coverage needs to be extended to everyone who has an interest in the farm – whether they physically are part of the operation, or they just have a financial interest. All parties could be held liable if an accident would occur.

Most Farm policies do have a limit to the amount of liability that is offered. However, a person can increase their liability coverage by obtaining an Umbrella Policy.

In the big picture of this ever-changing world we live in, insurance is an important part of our lives. Make sure your home and livelihood are protected!

 

-Susan Stevens