How Much Does It Cost to Insure a Farm?

• General Liability covers accidents of bodily injury or property damage of a third party on the farm property. Farms and ranches especially need this if they host events, offer tours or provide horse riding lessons. This insurance can help with the victim’s medical expenses as well as the farm’s legal expenses should the victim decide to sue. 

• Farm Products covers products produced by the farm such as wheat, grain, etc., in case they are lost or damaged due to a covered disaster such as fire or lightning. 

• Livestock insurance provides the farm compensation if livestock is injured or killed. It can even cover livestock killed or injured in transport. Livestock commonly covered under this insurance include cattle, sheep, emu, horses, bison and deer. 

• Farm Machinery and Equipment covers crucial machinery and equipment. This includes tractors, combines, field equipment and more. This insurance compensates for incidents involving fire, lightning, theft, vandalism, hail, wind and explosions 

Depending on how much insurance you have and at how much coverage, the price you pay for farm insurance may be vastly different than your neighbor’s. As an estimate, farm equipment may be insured around $15 for $1,000 in value. For example, say your combine is worth $380,000. This means it would cost approximately $5,700 to insure. Calculate the value of your equipment before searching for coverage to find a policy that is right for your farm. Every farm is different and may need different limits of insurance. 

Farms that specialize in livestock, for example, should have higher limits on livestock than farms that specialize in crops. The type of livestock a farm has influences the cost of insurance. For horses, farmers generally pay between 2.5% and 5% of the horse’s total value in insurance. A horse at a value of $5,000 and a rate of 3% would be about $150 a year for a single horse. 

Crop insurance can also be added to farm insurance to replace crops that are destroyed due to fire, theft, lightning and other dangers.