Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Insurance for the little farm

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: KAKerby AT aol.com
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Insurance for the little farm
  • Date: Mon, 5 Sep 2011 11:49:41 -0400 (EDT)

We had to take the plunge a number of months ago because a tree came down and hit our house during a windstorm in May 2010.  Our homeowner's insurance covered everything and there was no problem there, but when the adjustor came by to see that all the work was done, somehow it suddenly occurred to him that we were a farm (I wonder if the cows gave us away???) and State Farm here doesn't cover farms (go figure).  We started talking about switching policies when we got the formal notice in the mail that State Farm had summarily dumped us, so at that point we had to find something else.
 
We talked to three different insurance groups which supposedly covered farms; the first didn't even bother returning phone calls after their site visit confirmed that yes we're really truly a farm and not just some recreational couple-of-chickens-and-a-horse-for-the-kiddies.  The second worked really hard but their corporate headquarters just couldn't quite see a way to cover such high-risk activities as selling eggs at market, selling meat, selling dairy.  You know, toxic substances that can kill people dead just by looking at 'em.  I was about ready to give up.  Then we called Nationwide, and the guy on the phone said "if you can sell it legally, we can probably insure it."  And they were true to their word.  Produce at market?  Sure.  Eggs?  No problem.  Dairy?   Just let 'em know when we get that part of our operation set up and it's a go.  Meat?  Go sell your heart out and we'll cover it.  The only thing they wouldn't cover was hunting on our property.  They also did a top-to-bottom appraisal of our farm that helped us "see" the financial value of what we've built here and what it's really "worth" on paper, which we'd never done before.  It took a long time to find them, but we were thrilled when we did.
 
It's a slog, to be sure, to wade through all that effort.  If the adjustor comes out in his nice shoes and his nice sportscar for that first conversation, and looks like he's afraid to walk around for all the cooties he's bound to inhale, keep looking.  But if you can find someone who really understands small scale ag in your area and understands that you're not selling nuclear waste, hang onto those folks because they're worth their weight in gold. 
Kathryn Kerby
frogchorusfarm.com
Snohomish, WA
 
In a message dated 9/5/2011 5:59:59 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, rrobinson AT nasw.org writes:
I wonder how those of you with smaller farms handle insurance. We are a two-person
operation, with an honor farm stand, a micro-CSA, and a cut-your-own Christmas tree
operation. We'd like to begin selling to more restaurants and markets. As we've grown, the
question of how much our homeowner's umbrella liability covers any or all of this has
become murkier, and we are reluctant to ask our insurer without some background from
others (there are a few farms in town, but these are full-scale operations with employees,
etc; I am not sure there are any other operations like ours nearby, so I am not sure our
insurer would be familiar with similar situations).

All information appreciated!

thanks, Richard

  Richard Robinson
  www.nasw.org/users/rrobinson/
  Hopestill Farm
  www.hopestill.com

_______________________________________________
Market-farming mailing list
Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming

Market Farming List Archives may be found here:
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/market-farming/
Unsubscribe from the list here (you will need to login in with your email
address and password):
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/market-farming



Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page