Agriculture Equipment Insurance

In modern farming, a farmer or ranch owner is more dependent on his agriculture equipment insurance to function well and increase output than he or she is on the weather or other natural elements. All equipment should run smoothly around the clock to ensure the success of your farm or ranch. However, it is nearly impossible to negate the chances of equipment breakdown or complete failure as well, which happens more often than one can imagine. And it becomes a very expensive affair to either repair the damaged machinery or to replace it with a new one every now and then.

However, there is something that you can do, as a farm or ranch owner, to decrease your liability during equipment breakdown or failure and maximize your profits. The simplest and surest way to do this is to get an Agriculture Equipment Insurance which will help you in ways more than one. It will help you save thousands of dollars on repairs and replacement and also save your time and effort. Thus, insurance is as important as your equipment.

What kinds of equipment are covered under such insurance?

Most agriculture insurance plans cover majority equipment used on a farm or ranch, like –

Heating and Cooling Systems – These are prone to a lot of breakdowns and failure instances and are also very expensive to replace, hence, it is certainly a relief for farmers and ranch owners that many insurance plans cover these systems.
Tractors – Tractors run on a daily basis on all kind of uneven surfaces and are highly prone to damage. There can be unexplained damage to wheels, alloy or even a complete breakdown of the tractor. These are often covered under insurance plans.
Combines, Planters, and Sprayers – Even combine, planters and sprayer machines are covered under insurance plans to provide extended coverage to farmers and ranch owners, in case, these get damaged or break down.
Farm Office Equipment – The equipment in your office at the farm or ranch is also covered under most insurance plans to minimize your cost of risk.

When can I claim the benefit of an Agriculture Equipment Insurance?

The insurance plans not only account for damage caused by accident but most of them also provide cover to farmers and ranch owners, in case, of a power surge or mechanical breakdown. Power surge issue is common in certain areas and, often, ends up rendering the machine useless. Motor burnout is also an issue faced by many and certain insurance policies provide claim benefits for this as well.

Most insurance policies provide covers for seemingly natural causes as well, like, fire breakout, winds, and lightning. This is indeed helpful as most farms are located in areas where an occurrence of high-speed winds and lightning is not a rare instance.

Certain times there can be a human error as well that can end up either damaging or triggering a breakdown in a machine even as complex as a tractor or a combine machine. These are errors that can be curbed but are still prone to happen despite educating the workers repeatedly. Hence, some insurance companies have also started providing benefits to farm and ranch owners for damage and loss caused by an operator’s error.

Types of Agriculture Equipment Insurance Policies

Though there are different kinds of policies available, the majority of them work on either of the following two ways only –

Each machine as a whole is insured separately, for example, there can be different insurance policies for tractors, combines, sprayers etc. based on their value. This is often done in small farms with a limited number of equipment and limited risk factor.
Often referred to as a blanket policy, in this all farm equipment is insured together up to a designated amount that can be claimed after taking the total value of all equipment into consideration.

You should talk to your agriculture equipment insurance agent at length to know all your options because there are various ways in which you can get the best out of the insurance for you. Some of them might even offer you benefits on equipment that is on lease or borrowed, hence, minimizing risk to the lowest level.

Farm and ranch owners should ensure that their equipment is covered under a proper insurance policy and the cost of risk is minimized to the least possible level so that they are free of worries and can conduct operations successfully.