As you will be aware, there is an overabundance of rules and regulations that the spraying process must adhere to and whilst farmers and contractors are generally good in this area there are a surprising number of spraying mishaps each year.
So, what if something does go wrong?
Having a good relationship with your insurance broker will provide you with peace of mind if you have the misfortune of damaging your neighbours crops or at worst, injuring someone.
Most farm insurance policies automatically exclude any cover for spray contracting, even if you have the basic agricultural contracting cover. Rule number one therefore, is tell your insurers what you are doing.
It’s here that a good broker will be worth their weight in gold, because there are many variances in the level of cover available.
Level 1: First level contracting cover offers the same as if you were on your own farm i.e. damage to other people’s crops/gardens and injury/illness to third parties.
Level 2: Interestingly, this level can offer contractors cover for damaging the crop being sprayed. This can be important when one machine swaps from spraying cereals to different crop types such as veg/salad and root crops.
Unfortunately, this useful cover is not available when spraying your own crops.
It is perhaps even more important that your insurance policy also provides cover for environmental liability. This will insure against claims and costs (including environment agency charges) for pollution and contamination.
Simply, don’t fall short on your insurance due to misunderstanding or lack of knowledge. An experienced broker will support you through every step.
Acres Insurance Brokers are independent agricultural insurance brokers. Our team of brokers have both farming and insurance knowledge and utilise this to develop tailor made insurance solutions for farming and agricultural contracting businesses. Service and specialist advice at the right price is our goal.
Steve Corton, Farm Insurance Broker
Contact Steve or a member of the Acres team on 01536 607070.
