Do You Have The Right Type Of Insurance For Your Farm?

16 January 2018
 Categories: Business, Blog


If your home is in an area zoned for agriculture and/or livestock and you have just started making use of the land, you are probably going to need to upgrade your homeowner's insurance policy. Having livestock and/or crops will create a variety of different potential dangers and losses for which you will want to be covered. Contact your agent about farm insurance. He or she may want to come and walk the property to help you decide what types of coverage you need. However, if you are just getting started and are not sure what you will have, here are a few things you will want to be sure are covered once you get running.

Crop Insurance

No matter what type of crop you are growing or why you are growing it, you want it to be protected against fire and lightning at a minimum. Even if you just have a few acres planted to feed your own livestock, losing it all will mean you need to buy the feed, and this can get expensive. In addition, you may not be able to plant on the charred earth for a year or so.

Livestock Insurance

If you have farm animals, you will want to be sure they are insured. Depending on what type and how many head you plan on having, livestock can be a very costly investment. However, even if you just have a few of each type of farm animal, you will want to have insurance to protect your investment. You can have coverage for different diseases, death, and injuries. There is also different coverage for different species—for example, poultry coverage will cover if your flock dies from heat stroke in the summer.

Liability Insurance

A farm has different potential dangers than a house. You want to be sure you are covered if one of the neighborhood kids gets bit by an animal or is hurt on a piece of farm equipment. In addition, if you have livestock, there is the potential for their wastes to get into the ground and ground water, possibly spreading disease. This could infect people or the neighbor's animals. You need to be protected in case there is a lawsuit.

Make sure you discuss all the animals, equipment, and crops you plan on having on the farm. Ask to be covered for everything. You can never be sure of what might happen, and you do not want to lose the farm because of it.


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