What Does Standard Farm Personal Property Insurance Cover and Not Cover?

Home Blog What Does Standard Farm Personal Property Insurance Cover and Not Cover?

If you experience a loss, your insurance policy can step in to help you recover, provided you have coverage, and it is a covered loss. Any standard policy will have covered losses, coverage exclusions, and policy limits. You can “add back” coverage for additional perils or exclusions through supplemental policy riders or endorsements. However, it’s essential to know what your policy does and does not cover before you experience a loss. What does standard farm personal property insurance cover and not cover? Here’s what you need to know:

What Does Standard Farm Personal Property Insurance Cover?

Standard farm personal property insurance is designed to provide protection for movable farm assets against covered perils. One of the things to know about farm insurance is that it can cover these assets on and off the farm premises. Farm personal property is usually covered on a scheduled or unscheduled basis.

Key Categories of Farm Personal Property Coverage

Standard farm personal property insurance often provides coverage for these key areas:

• Farm Machinery & Equipment, which often includes:
  • Tractors
  • Combines
  • Tools
  • Irrigation systems
  • Computers
  • Other office equipment
• Livestock, which usually provides protection specifically against perils like:
  • Electrocution
  • Lightning
  • Fire
  • Theft
  • Vandalism
• Farm Supplies & Products, which usually includes:
  • Harvested crops
  • Grain
  • Silage
  • Seed
  • Fertilizer
  • Hay
  • Seed

Scheduled and Unscheduled Personal Property

Farm personal property coverage is usually on a scheduled or an unscheduled basis.

Scheduled Farm Personal Property

Scheduled personal property is used to tailor coverage for specific needs or items that do not qualify for unscheduled farm personal property. These items are listed individually and separately on your policy. This allows you to tailor coverage to these items and assign a specific amount of insurance to each to ensure you have adequate coverage and limits for them on your policy.

Unscheduled Farm Personal Property

Unscheduled personal property provides general blanket coverage for items up to your selected blanket coverage limit. In the case of farm personal property, this often includes things like smaller machinery or tools. It is also often referred to as “blanket coverage.”

There are some types of coverage that are not eligible for unscheduled coverage, such as Irrigation Equipment, ATVs/UTVs, etc. Some carriers may not allow certain items, like Combines, Forage Harvesters, Cotton Pickers, etc., to be insured under unscheduled farm personal property.

Covered Perils on a Standard Farm Personal Property Policy

Covered perils on a standard farm personal property policy usually include:

• Fire
• Smoke
• Explosion
• Lightning
• Hail
• Windstorm
• Sinkhole collapse
• Volcanic action
• Vehicles
• Aircraft
• Collision
• Vandalism
• Theft
• Riot or civil unrest

What Does Standard Farm Personal Property Insurance Not Cover?

Although farm personal property insurance is often bundled with other coverages, like farm liability, farm structures, and homeowners insurance, it is a distinct coverage. As with all insurance, available coverage is about risk management.

Emerging risks and insurance trends can affect what is and is not covered on standard policies. This is why making sure you talk to your insurance agent about the coverage you have and obtaining any endorsements you need is so important. Provided you have the right endorsements on your policy, you can turn coverage exclusions into covered losses.

Depending on the nature of the risk and the coverage needed, there could be plenty of coverage options, limited coverage options available, or options that are cost-prohibitive. Your insurance agent will be able to walk you through the current state of insurance and help you evaluate the available options for the coverage you need.

Common Exclusions on a Standard Farm Personal Property Policy

Specific coverage exclusions will vary by location, carrier, market, etc., but they are explicitly stated on insurance policies in most cases. This list is not exhaustive because coverage exclusions can vary, and there are endorsements available to add coverage for some of them. In general, a standard farm personal property insurance policy usually does NOT cover the following perils:

• Growing crops
• Household goods
• Specialized equipment
• Routine wear and tear
• Sewer backups
• Flooding
• Earthquakes
• Pollution
• Disease/sickness
• Pest infestation
• Non-owned livestock in your care
• Inventory used for retail sales
• Negligence
• Intentional acts
• Government-ordered seizure/destruction

Common Endorsements For Farm Personal Property Insurance

Although it is not an exhaustive list, and the endorsements you need will depend on your situation, these are some endorsements and other policies that are often added to farm personal property insurance to provide additional coverage:

• Extra Expense and Loss of Business Income
• Care, Custody, and Control Insurance
• Replacement Cost For Machinery and Equipment
• Replacement Cost of Irrigation Systems
• Peak Season Inventory Endorsement
• Coverage For GPS Guidance Systems
• Suffocation of Livestock – Property-Owned and Non-Owned
• Farm Machinery and Equipment – Open Perils
• Equipment Breakdown
• Backup of Sewers and Drains
• Inland Marine (Property in Transit)
• Winter Perils
• Added Animal Perils
• Fraud Expense Insurance
• Personal Injury Liability

Get the Insurance You Need With Ruhl Insurance, a Division of Horst Insurance

This is an overview of what standard farm personal property insurance covers and doesn’t cover. Similar to what homeowners insurance does and doesn’t cover, you can extend your coverage beyond a standard farm personal property policy with endorsements and additional policies, but you will need to be proactive and intentional about adding them in order to get the full coverage you need for anything that is not included on a standard policy.

Every situation is unique, and the exact coverage you need will vary. Your insurance agent will be able to identify the endorsements you need for your situation and ensure you have the coverage options you need before you need them. For help with your farm insurance policy, contact Ruhl Insurance, a Division of Horst Insurance, at 717-665-2283 or 800-537-6880.

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