Property insurance generally covers damage to property from weather events, theft, or vandalism. Property insurance policies can also cover losses from equipment breakdown or loss of electrical power. The property covered can include buildings, tools, equipment, machinery, seed stock, animal feed and other ʻpropertyʻ. Do you have investments that arenʻt insured and would be a big loss to your operation if they were damaged?

Liability insurance covers injuries from guests and customer injuries. Do you have a CSA or do agritourism on your farm? Insurance policies generally provide an attorney to defend the farm’s safety and compensate the injured person for his or her injury. Most farm property and liability policies provide coverage for injuries to farm visitors, however, any off- farm or special activities such as events, processing, u-pick, and CSA drop sites, may need individual endorsements, event riders, or separate policy lines.

Do you sell to grocery stores or wholesale distributors? You may need commercial general liability insurance policy to cover off-farm sales and to cover indemnification and recall costs. If you make significant sales, you may want to explore ʻproduct liability coverageʻ.

Do you have employees, interns or volunteers on your farm? If you donʻt carry workers’ compensation, anyone injured while working on your farm (or their health insurance companies) may sue your farm, but insurance can protect you from this scenario.

Are your crops or livestock covered if you experience a flood or fire? Have you signed up with FSA? Have you looked into the Micro-Whole Farm Revenue Program?

Insurance policies have monetary limits. Generally, the more coverage, the more expensive the premiums. The goal is to strike the right balance of not paying too much in premiums but paying enough to be sure that adequate coverage is available. Answer these questions to help you determine the right type of insurance and coverage amount is right for you: If a particular item was damaged, what repair or replacement value would the farm business need to stay afloat? How high is the risk that such an incident or damage will occur? How devastating might a particular risk be if it materialized?Are buyers, partners, or other entities expecting a specific level of coverage?How much can the farm reasonably afford for insurance risk protection?

Contract agreements can be written in the form of ʻcontract growsʻ with buyers, lease agreements or agreements with farm workers. Contract agreements can benefit your farm business by providing more stable revenue streams and identification of the best times to diversify your operation; avoidance of unanticipated financial fines or shut-downs; and clear agreements with your buyers and employees. What contract agreements do you have in place currently? Which are you considering drafting in the future?