What to Know About Biosecurity and Farm Insurance

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Animal disease outbreaks can cause a lot of problems for producers. It’s essential for farmers to establish good biosecurity practices and protocols to protect their animals, prevent disease, and minimize risks should an outbreak occur. And, it’s not just important for the health and safety of their livestock; it’s important for their insurance, too. Here’s what farmers should know about biosecurity and farm insurance, and some biosecurity tips to help protect your animals:

6 Things to Know About Biosecurity and Farm Insurance

Here are some things to know about biosecurity and farm insurance:

1. Insurers include biosecurity processes when assessing risk.
2. Biosecurity is often grouped into structural and operational categories.
3. Documented biosecurity practices can lower costs.
4. Biosecurity practices may be required for some coverage.
5. Biosecurity practices can affect claim eligibility.
6. Documented biosecurity measures can provide liability protection.

1. Insurers Include Biosecurity Processes When Assessing Risk

One of the biggest things to know about biosecurity and farm insurance is that insurers do use documented biosecurity measures when assessing risk for providing coverage. Implementing robust biosecurity measures and being able to back them up with documentation can make you a lower-risk insured, which can bring its own benefits. This is a key way to lower your risk and protect your agritainment investment. Plus, lower risk can mean lower premiums, more competitive coverage, and access to more types of coverage plans.

2. Biosecurity is Often Grouped Into Structural and Operational Categories

In the process of organizing risk management, underwriters will often group biosecurity measures into structural biosecurity and operational biosecurity.

• Structural biosecurity typically includes things like pen separation, perimeter fencing, and other physical barriers that protect your livestock and minimize the risk of contamination, disease outbreak, and spread.
• Operational biosecurity typically includes things like quarantine rules, movement logs, vehicle logs, daily hygiene protocols, and other processes you have in place to protect livestock and minimize the risk of infection, disease outbreak, and spread.

3. Documented Biosecurity Practices Can Lower Costs

Insurance is all about managing risks. Anything you can do to reduce risk around your farm helps to make you a lower-risk insured. For an insurer, lower risk also means a lower risk of a claim. Any documentation you can show your insurance agent to provide proof of risk reduction measures can result in lower costs for you when it comes to insurance. Not only can it make you eligible for reduced rates on your premiums, but it can also make you eligible for even more competitive coverage plans as well as specialized coverage options.

4. Biosecurity Practices May Be Required For Some Coverage

Coverage options and requirements will vary by insurer, coverage details, and your specific operation. It is important to know that some coverage options you might need will require biosecurity practices to be in place to acquire coverage and to keep it active.

Your insurance agent will be able to walk you through specifics for your ag operation and your policy. If you invite the public onto your property for any reason, implementing biosecurity measures and standards is one of the essential things to do before welcoming visitors to your farm.

5. Biosecurity Practices Can Affect Claim Eligibility

In the event of a disease outbreak, your biosecurity practices, or lack thereof, can affect your claim eligibility. If your coverage requires documented biosecurity practices, and you don’t have that, your claim may be denied.

If you don’t have the right documentation, your claim could be denied, or your payout and reimbursement could be affected even if your claim was accepted. One of the most important things to remember when it comes to claims is that you have to have the right coverage and meet the terms of the coverage on your policy in order for your claim to be covered.

It’s important that you know what is covered, what is not covered, and what you need to do to ensure you remain covered in the event of a loss before a loss occurs. A regular review of your insurance policy DEC page is a good place to start. If you have any questions about your coverage, a conversation with your insurance agent can help you get the answers you need. And, if it turns out that you need to update or add coverage, they will be able to help you there, too.

6. Documented Biosecurity Measures Can Provide Liability Protection

There are several reasons why you might need additional liability coverage for your ag operation. Inviting the public onto your property, new business ventures, new animals, and more can all affect liability and your biosecurity risk. In the event of a disease outbreak on your farm that extends beyond your property or if one occurs in surrounding areas outside of your farm, having strict, documented biosecurity measures in place can protect you from liability claims.

A documented biosecurity protocol, in addition to logs, shows that you have taken “reasonable care” to prevent disease, contain any outbreak that might occur, and reduce the risk of contamination or spread as much as possible. Although this may not remove all liability from you in all cases, it does provide some protection and can shield you from liability and operational losses. This is also a way farmers can avoid frivolous liability claims.

11 Biosecurity Tips to Help Protect Your Livestock

Good biosecurity measures can help you protect your animals, reduce the risk of disease, reduce the risk of transmission should outbreaks occur in your area, and allow you to trace disease movement should an outbreak occur. It also helps protect your animals from both foreign diseases and getting infected with common endemic ones. Here are some biosecurity tips to help protect your livestock and your farm:

1. Implement strict disinfection procedures before workers or visitors come into contact with your animals, including hands, clothing, footwear, and other objects that could carry contaminants.
2. Everyone should wash their hands thoroughly before and after contact with animals.
3. Designate footwear for “on the farm” and for “off the farm” to reduce the risk of contamination.
4. Have shoe covers available when and where needed.
5. Display signage of rules, regulations, and biosecurity measures in key locations.
6. Review, update, renew, and maintain separate premises ID numbers for each location where animals are kept.
7. Maintain accurate and up-to-date movement logs of animals, equipment, and people.
8. Implement a 30-day quarantine for new animals and for animals returning from being outside the farm.
9. Fully clean and disinfect farm equipment that has been outside the farm before returning to your property.
10. Implement appropriate pest control on your farm to reduce contamination risk.
11. Use farm drainage strategies to decrease instances of standing, stagnant water.

Get the Insurance Your Farm Needs With Ruhl Insurance, a Division of Horst Insurance

These are just a few important things farms need to know about biosecurity and farm insurance. The health of livestock, along with the biosecurity protocols in place, can affect what insurance coverage is available to you and can even affect your premiums, deductibles, eligibility for endorsements, etc.

Working with an independent insurance agent, especially someone with ag experience, can be invaluable and goes a long way in making sure you get the insurance coverage your farm needs. If you need to obtain new coverage or need to review your farm insurance policy, contact Ruhl Insurance, a Division of Horst Insurance, at 717-665-2283 or 800-537-6880. We can help you navigate the coverage options that your ag operation needs.

Disclaimer: Information and claims presented in this content are meant for informative, illustrative purposes and should not be considered legally binding.