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Farms and Agribusiness

Arthur Hall Insurance / Practice Areas  / Commercial Lines / Farms and Agribusiness

Over 40 Years’ Experience Insuring All Types of Farms

Arthur Hall Insurance has over 40 years’ experience insuring all types of farms — large farming operations, orchards, equine related, mushroom, and gentleman’s estates with equine activities, to mention a few. We have the experience and the expertise to understand your operation and to offer you advice on managing the risks associated with your particular farming operation.

Because farms are often a combination of a person’s home and business, farms and agribusinesses present unique exposures. Insurance carriers have created different insurance products for each type of exposure. Arthur Hall Insurance has a program just for farm and agribusiness operations. We can provide you with a variety of insurance solutions for your business needs in conjunction with your personal needs.

A farm can be a fully working farm harvesting crops and raising livestock, or simply a residential estate with horses or equine activities.

The Working Farm

The Working Farm, in addition to its own land, often rents fields from other farms and has many types of equipment. Farm Owner Policies require each building and each piece of farm equipment to be scheduled on the policy. We will visit your farm in person and review these schedules on a regular basis to help you keep your insurance current.

The Gentleman Farm

The Gentleman Farm is one in which the person has primarily a house and more than just a few acres. Oftentimes these are renovated farm houses and there are out buildings such as barns, run-in-sheds, and perhaps a garage or two. Arthur Hall Insurance has the ability to provide specialized insurance programs for these properties, through either our farm program or our High Net Worth Homeowner Program. We will work to understand your specific situation and provide the type of coverage that will best meet your coverage needs and budget.

Some typical coverages that make up a Farm Owner’s policy include:

  • Dwelling Coverage
  • Personal Property
  • Additional Living Expense
  • Farm Buildings
  • Scheduled Farm Equipment
  • Loss of Rental Income from a Tenant House
  • Fence Coverage
  • Grain and Hay
  • Personal Liability
  • Business Liability — including horse boarding, farmers markets, road-side stands, and tenant houses
  • Farm Trucks — licensed for farm use or regular road use
  • Equine Liability — including horse boarding, care, custody and control, training, and racing
An Agribusiness

An Agribusiness is a business whose product or service is related to some type of farming or livestock. Arthur Hall Insurance has the capability to handle the very large multi-facility operation down to the one man operation. Some examples of special coverages you may want to consider include:

  • Product Liability
  • Loss of Income
  • Extra Expense to Temporarily Relocate In the Event of a Loss
  • Commercial Auto
  • Worker’s Compensation
  • Equipment Floater — for tractors and other custom equipment
  • Inland Marine
  • Hay, Grain, Feed, or Other Perishable Products
  • Mechanical Breakdown
  • Pollution
  • Agritainment Liability
  • Recreational Vehicles
  • Gas Storage Tanks
  • Liquor Liability for Vineyards

Below are some examples of types of exposures and coverages typically associated with one or more types of farming operations:

Gas Storage Tanks

Maintaining a gas or diesel storage tank on your property presents exposures such as fire and pollution as the result of a spill or leak. Arthur Hall Insurance can provide the coverages that you need regarding these types of storage tanks.

Recreational Vehicles Liability

Most people do not realize that a vehicle such as an ATV that is used in the operation of the farm is only covered when being used on your farm premises, or when being used for farming off of your premises. If for instance your son for some reason takes the farm 4-wheeler ATV off the farm premises and somehow injures, a pedestrian, with your 4-wheeler joy riding while on the way back from hauling hay, chances are that without Recreational Vehicles Liability coverage there will be no coverage. If you have a 3- or 4-wheeler or other recreational-type vehicle on your farm, you may only be covered off the premises when using it for farm activities. If you use these vehicles for non-farm activities off your premises, you may want to discuss the need for this type of coverage with an agent at Arthur Hall Insurance.

Loss of Income

Loss of Income coverage may be necessary when winds and hail cause significant damage to a family farm. In suffering this extensive damage, other vendors may take over your existing contracts that you may be unable to fulfill while you are restoring your farming operations. What do you do about the loss of the income that you suffer in addition to the damage to your property? Loss of income insurance covers the loss of income right after the loss occurs. Also, this coverage helps if it takes longer than expected to resume normal business operations.

Extra Expense

An example of Extra Expense would be when fire destroys your milk parlor and equipment and where, fortunately, the cows escape the fire and survive. Most people think to cover the loss of the building and equipment, but what about the extra expense of moving 1,000 dairy cows to another facility to be milked? Without Extra Expense Coverage, you may have a gap in your farm business coverage. For the business that needs to stay in operation at all costs, extra expense coverage provides reimbursement for the extra costs it takes to keep the business running.

Agritainment Liability

Many farms today supplement their income by offering “agritainment” such as hayrides, perhaps even a corn maze. But what would happen if someone got hurt on the your hayride? If you are thinking about providing agritainment on your farm, such as a hayride or corn maze, talk to Arthur Hall Insurance first — you may not be covered for liability if someone gets hurt.

Product liability

A typical farm liability policy may not cover your liability for products you sell on your farm. You may need additional product liability coverage in case of food-borne illness or other potential problems with the product you sell.

Have a conversation with one of our Arthur Hall Insurance advisors to learn more.