Why Agri-Business Coverage Is What Farms Need

Sep 28, 2021, 1:23 PM

If you’re a farmer, a farm isn’t just where you live, it’s your business. It needs protection, just like your business would if it was in an office or a factory. Hastings Mutual’s Agri-business endorsement builds on our Businessowners policy and is what you need for your equipment, buildings, and property. A financial or advertising business may have computers and printers in its office — but your farm has a computer, a printer, and a tractor that’s used every day for months at a time.

There are several farm-specific coverages that you’ll only find in the Hastings Mutual agri-business endorsement:

Replacement Cost on Farm Office Contents

Your insurance might include Personal Property Replacement Cost coverage, which helps you recover your losses at their replacement cost. The office on a farm includes essential equipment like computers, which are almost as essential to owning and operating a farm as seed is.

Farm Outbuilding Specified Additional Coverage

Replacement cost matters here, too. If there’s a loss to a farm outbuilding and you will be paid an agreed-upon amount for the loss, we’ll increase the coverage amount to 125%. You need to keep your business going, and this will help with the costs of restoring your structures to a working level.

Mobile Farm Machinery — Lease Gap Coverage

You’ve read about GAP coverage here on the blog before. When it comes to agri-business, the coverage applies to leased machinery, like tractors, if there is a total loss.

A farm is a business, as I said before, and so there are other coverages that apply to many types of business that can be especially useful for an agricultural operation.

Diminishing Deductible Coverage

You can’t control the weather, so there may be a time when you have to file a claim for a severe loss. That’s why you have insurance in the first place. But many farms can go for years without needing to seek insurance compensation. Hastings Mutual appreciates long-term customers in that situation. Diminishing deductible coverage is a little bit of a “thank you,” reducing a deductible of $5,000 or more by 10% after a claim-free year. This reduction adds up, with an additional 10% reduction per year up to 5 years. As a farmer, you recognize the value of patience and staying consistent over many years. So does Hastings Mutual.

Arson, Theft, and Vandalism Reward

Some losses can’t be attributed to the weather or an accident. If there’s a criminal act that affects farm property, Hastings Mutual offers up to $500 for information that leads to a conviction.

Agri-business insurance coverage helps provide protection for some of the essentials you probably don’t think about every day, since you’re busy working your farm. Just as your farm is much more than just the crops in the field or the livestock in the barn, your insurance coverage is much more than a policy for your house and your car.

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