Farm and Ranch Insurance: Liability, Cost & Quotes From $15

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A lot of dreadful things can happen on your farm and ranch. Carriers underwrite farm and ranch insurance, so that you can operate without worrying about the unexpected. In this discussion, you will learn:

• What is farm and ranch insurance

• Policies you can avail in farm and ranch insurance

• How much premiums cost

• Where to get the best ranch and farm insurance

What is Farm And Ranch Insurance?

Farm and ranch insurance is an insurance product that’s composed of different business insurance policies that cater to risks farm and ranch owners face such as property damage, liability claims, livestock and crop loss, and equipment breakdown. 

In connection, policies you can get from the farm and ranch insurance of most insurance companies are:

• Farm and ranch liability insurance

• Farm and ranch property insurance

• Commercial auto insurance

• Trailer insurance

• Trailer interchange insurance

• Workers compensation insurance

• Inland marine insurance

Farm And Ranch Liability Insurance

Farm and ranch liability insurance protects your farm and ranch against claims for bodily injury, property damage, pollution, defective products, and more. We further classify this as:

• Premises liability insurance

• Product liability insurance

• Pollution liability insurance

• Umbrella liability insurance

Farm And Ranch Premises Liability Insurance 

Accidents can happen on your farm and ranch. For example, a health inspector can slip and fall while checking. If the accident resulted in bodily injuries or property damage, your farm and ranch must grant indemnification for pain, suffering, and financial loss. 

Farm premises liability insurance will help you sort things out without endangering your financial reserves.

Premises liability insurance will take care of these costs if an invitee or licensee files a claim and cites that your farm and ranch’s environment caused bodily injuries or property damage:

• Medical payments

• Reimbursement for property damage

• Settlements

• Defense costs

• Court judgments

So how much coverage can you get from premises liability insurance? This insurance provides $5,000-$15,000 medical payments coverage. You also get $300,000-$2 million coverage for each claim for bodily injury or property damage. 

Ranch And Farm Product Liability Insurance

Product liability insurance is another important liability coverage for your farm and ranch. This will help when:

• Wholesalers file a claim because the meats, fruits, vegetables, and other products from your farm and ranch caused a foodborne disease 

• Wholesalers file a claim because the products of your farm and ranch were incorrectly packed or labeled 

• Wholesalers file a claim because the products you handed to them were substandard

So what costs does the policy cover? Farm and ranch product liability insurance provides the money you can use to:

• Medical treatment of parties who sustained a foodborne disease because of your farm’s products

• Settlements

• Defense costs

• Court judgments

You can add a product recall and contamination coverage to product liability insurance so that it will also pay for:

• Product recall costs such as worker overtime pay, reimbursements, shipping, disposal, and business interruption

• Cost for decontaminating farm equipment and machinery that got infected or caused the foodborne illness or disease

Farm And Ranch Pollution Liability Insurance 

Your farm and ranch uses herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, and other hazardous chemicals. Animal and plant wastes are also handled. 

Your farm and ranch can cause pollution. And so, consider getting pollution liability insurance. Use this when:

• An employee is transporting waste using the tractor. An accident happens that results in waste spill-over

• The agricultural tanks of your farm and ranch leak or explode and kill wildlife 

• Fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides from your farm and ranch run off to a nearby river,  killing the fishes and causing skin diseases to those who contact it 

• Your farm and ranch have poor waste management and disposal methods. As a result, nearby households got sick due to the odor

In connection, your farm and ranch can use pollution liability insurance to take care of these expenses:

• Claims for bodily injury as caused by the pollution

• Claims for property damage as caused by the pollution

• Pollution containment

• Clean-up costs

• Settlements

• Defense costs

• Court judgments

Pollution liability insurance, which you can also find in dairy farm insurance bundles, has a minimum $500,000 aggregate and per occurrence limit. The maximum coverage you can get from the policy is $1 million-$1 billion per occurrence and aggregate limit. 

Farm And Ranch Umbrella Liability Insurance 

Umbrella liability insurance doesn’t protect your farm or ranch against any perils or claims. The function of this insurance is to provide an additional layer of coverage to any liability policies you purchased. Here’s an example for you to understand:

Your farm and ranch caused pollution. Someone filed a claim and demanded a $2 million settlement. Your pollution liability insurance only has $1 million and is short of funds. In this case, umbrella liability insurance will account for the excess $1 million. And so, you sort things out smoothly without incurring losses. 

Farm And Ranch Property Insurance 

Farm and ranch property insurance covers the assets of your farm and ranch, such as livestock, equipment, buildings, installations, and others. 

Think of this as commercial property insurance that’s solely underwritten for businesses in agriculture. These are the common coverages you can get from farm and ranch property insurance.

Farm And Ranch Personal Property Coverage 

The equipment, barn, machinery, equipment, livestock, supplies, and machine sheds are valuable assets. Farm and ranch personal property coverage will reimburse your loss if these become damaged or lost due to:

• Fire

• Theft

• Vandalism

• Malicious mischief

• Riot

• Civil commotion

• Aircraft

• Vehicle

• Sinkhole collapse

• Volcanic action

• Lightning

• Hail

• Snow 

• Winds

• Rain

Farm And Ranch Livestock Coverage

Livestock insurance is an additional layer of protection for the cattle, pigs, and other livestock on your farm and ranch. This functions to recover financial losses due to livestock damage or death due to:

• Accidental shooting

• Attacks from dogs or wild animals such as wolves, snakes, and others

• Disease

• Fire

• Flood

• Theft

• Loading and unloading accidents

• Negligence

The livestock insurance of your farm and ranch doesn’t cover animals owned by others but is currently under your watch. You can solve this gap by introducing care, custody, and control endorsement, which is a common inclusion in dairy horse business insurance bundles.

Ranch And Farm Crop Coverage

Crop coverage is an inclusion in farm and ranch property insurance that covers losses if the vegetables, fruits, and other crops on your farm wither and die due to:

• Frost

• Hail

• Wind

• Drought

• Fire

• Flood

• Insect damage

Note that crop coverage only applies to crops in the field. Any harvests in-store that get damaged are excluded in the terms of the policy. 

Farm And Ranch Equipment Coverage 

The razors, plows, seeders, tractors, harvesters, and other equipment are never cheap. To protect your investment, insurance companies include equipment coverage in their farm and ranch property insurance. 

Farm and ranch equipment coverage will cover expenses for repair or replacements if tractors, harvesters, and other equipment become damaged or lost due to:

• Operator error

• Impact

• Mechanical breakdown

• Electrical surge

• Electrical shorts

• Theft

• Floods

Understand that the equipment coverage for your farm and ranch excludes damage or loss due to wear and tear, war, theft, earthquakes, and transit. 

Farm And Ranch Income Coverage 

Income coverage helps you keep losses at bay while your farm and ranch isn’t generating income due to a disaster such as:

• Swarms

• Drought

• Flood

• Storm

• Fire

So what does this do? While your farm and ranch isn’t generating the usual income, farm and ranch income coverage will provide the money you can use to cover payroll, mortgage, taxes, loans, supplies, utility bills, and other operational costs. 

Farm And Ranch Inland Marine Insurance

Sometimes, you need to transport farm equipment through a truck or automobile hauler. The insurance that provides protection during such a situation is inland marine insurance. Inland marine insurance will reimburse your losses if farm equipment becomes lost or damaged during the trip due to:

• Error

• Theft

• Loading and unloading accidents

• Vehicular accident

• Fire

Farm And Ranch Commercial Auto Insurance

Commercial auto insurance covers perils associated with the use of farm hauling tractors, trucks, ATVs, and other motorized vehicles for farms and ranches. This policy provides the following:

Auto Liability Coverage 

Auto liability coverage will take care of costs if the tractor, truck, or ATV of your farm and ranch causes a vehicular accident that results in the death or property damage of victims. 

This allows you to pay the medical treatments and reimburse damaged properties. Auto liability coverage grants a minimum $25,000 coverage per bodily injury and $50,000 coverage per property damage.

Note that auto liability coverage will also account for defense costs and court judgments if the victims decide to sue. 

Physical Damage Coverage 

Physical damage coverage will take care of costs if unfortunate circumstances damage the tractor, truck, or other motorized vehicles of your farm and ranch. You get this as a:

• Collision coverage-Collision coverage will take care of parts repair or replacement expenses if the tractor, truck, or other motorized vehicles of your farm and ranch sustains damage due to a collision with an object or another vehicle

• Comprehensive coverage-Comprehensive coverage will cover parts repair or replacement if fire, winds, hail, snow, theft, and other covered perils damage the truck, tractor, or other motorized vehicles of your farm and ranch

Understand that physical damage coverage doesn’t take care of costs if the motorized vehicles sustained damage due to rollovers. Also, coverage might not apply if damage occurred while the motorized vehicle is being used by another driver, except you or other insureds. 

Medical Payments/Personal Injury Protection

Medical payments and personal injury protection are coverages in commercial auto insurance that protect the driver and passengers of your farm and ranch’s motorized vehicles. Here’s a quick discussion of their difference:

• Medical payments coverage-If the tractor or truck of your farm and ranch injures its passenger or driver, medical payments coverage accounts for medical treatment and hospitalization

• Personal injury protection coverage-Personal injury protection coverage will cover medical treatment, hospitalization, medication, lost wages, etc. if the tractor or truck of your farm and ranch injures its passenger or driver

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage

If the driver who caused the accident can’t indemnify your losses, underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage will take care of all the costs for medical treatment, property damage reimbursement, and vehicle repairs. 

Farm And Ranch Trailer Insurance

Your farm and ranch uses flatbed trailers, enclosed trailers, or utility trailers to haul goods and equipment.

Commercial auto insurance will cover the trailer but only if it’s attached to the insured tractor or truck. Therefore, if something happens to the trailer while it’s not attached, then you’re left on your own. 

This is why you must consider getting trailer insurance. The purpose of this insurance is to:

• Cover medical treatment, property damage reimbursement, settlements, defense costs, and court judgments if your trailer injures or destroys the property of a third party

• Cover parts repair or replacement expenses if the trailer of your farm and ranch sustains damage due to collision, theft, fire, weather, and other covered perils 

• Reimburse rental or lease expenses if you need to hire an additional trailer because the one that you own is being repaired

Trailer Interchange Insurance

Insurance companies allow you to add trailer interchange coverage to your trailer insurance. It takes care of repair or replacement expenses if a trailer you hired or borrowed under a trailer interchange agreement sustains damage or becomes destroyed due to fire, theft, and other covered perils. 

Farm And Ranch Workers Compensation Insurance

Farm and ranch work is very perilous. Livestock can injure custodians, hazardous chemicals can cause sickness, and accidents can result in burns, fractures, and other injuries. Experts record the fatality rate at 18.0 per 100,000 workers. 

Workplace deaths and also injuries or diseases can be very expensive. Purchase workers' compensation insurance to cover costs. This policy will take care of the following:

Medical Treatment/EMT Service

Workers' compensation insurance will cover medical treatment fees and private EMT service fees if an employee sustains:

• Injuries after getting attacked by livestock

• Injuries after experiencing an accident while using equipment

• Injuries after equipment breaks down

• Disease due to contact with fertilizers, herbicides, and other harmful substances

Hospitalization

You can use workers' compensation insurance to cover bills if an employee needs to stay in the hospital to receive intensive medical care for a work-related injury or disease. 

Medication

Workers' compensation insurance provides the funds an employee can use to buy medications for a work-related injury or disease, as prescribed by the physician.

Rehabilitation And Retraining

Workers' compensation insurance covers rehab. It will also cover retraining costs so that your employee can resume his job. While your employee is under rehab or being trained, the policy will provide an allowance equal to a percentage of the average weekly wage. 

Lost Wages 

Workers' compensation insurance covers lost wages if the employee of your farm and ranch can’t work due to a work-related injury or disease. The policy provides a weekly allowance equal to two-thirds or 67% of the average weekly wage. 

Death Benefits

If the employee of your farm and ranch dies, workers' compensation insurance provides death benefits. It will take care of the funeral expenses and grant financial assistance to dependents 

Does The Law Require You To Get Workers Compensation Insurance for Employees?

Most state laws don't require farm and ranch owners to get workers' compensation insurance for their employees. But still, it’s best to be safe, so check the requirements of the worker's comp department of your state. 

Can You Insure Yourself With Workers Compensation Insurance?

You can insure yourself with workers' compensation insurance. While purchasing the policy, carriers will give you the liberty to include or exclude yourself as an insured. 

Farm And Ranch Insurance Cost

The average farm and ranch insurance cost is $68.33 per month or $820 per year for a $1 million general liability insurance coverage. In connection, here’s a table showing the rates of the recommended farm and ranch insurance companies:

Get the best coverage for your farm and ranch by comparing quotes. Click the “Get Quotes” button on this page to start.