Hail Insurance for Pulses

[sumdumguy]

I was just wondering how many people cover their pulses with hail insurance. I believe it is a waste of money because the adjuster doesn't come for weeks and the broken stems try to regrow and the adjusters are taught to not pay if it is trying to regrow. Any one with any experience knows that with the shortest growing season on the planet, chances are the regrowth won't make anything but diseased garbage and furthermore the crop is made with the first pods, so why bother wasting money on insurance that isn't insurance? Nothing but a weedy, diseased mess was left after hail in pulses in 4 storms/4 different years at our farm. One company decent but other a zero.

[farmaholic]

Crop staging.

Vegetative, podding, ripening.....

Podding....bruised and broken pods cause quality issues.

Rates charged are up to two times the basic rate......for a reason.
For the premium paid make sure you get a payment on a legitimate claim. Play on Co off another if one pays and the other is being stupid.

[Oliver88]

Out of curiosity which two companies did you get to adjust the pulses?


I've had Municipal out to adjust canola, waiting on Co-op who didn't get out before the monsoon.

[sumdumguy]

July 17 storm in 2002. Second adjuster came three weeks after the storm, some green shoots were popping out of the broken joints. The crop isn't going to make it restarting on July 18 black with disease and pounded into the ground still August 10. Peas right beside were mashed and stunk like bad kraut. I maintained that once the stem is damaged, disease sets in and it should be written off even if it shows a few new sprouts that will never produce anything. Adjuster claimed they were regrowing. Farma, you can't play one against the other, but I know what you mean, I tried. I called Insurance Commission. They said they had no jurisdiction against hail companies. They said, "we don't know what you can do if you are unsatisfied with adjustment". Many adjusters are school teachers who never grew a lentil, not experienced pulse producers.

I don't want to name the companies, I think one name started with C, other M. One of these, I am loyal to after that episode and I tell everyone who asks me, the other wouldn't go near with a ten-foot pole. What producers need is an hail insurance adjudicator with experience - Professional Agrologist who knows lentils, peas and beans who can give certified appraisals. I would pay for it out of my pocket. It wouldn't hurt for Sask Pulse to design a policy book for hail adjusters instead of companies training their own.

Now I have Agriville for advice. I was lucky that the one good company had us half-ass covered.

[jamesb]

Quote "They said, "we don't know what you can do if you are unsatisfied with adjustment"

With Municipal Hail you can appeal an adjustment later if you feel the assessment is wrong.

[sumdumguy]

Appeal to who?

[jamesb]

The way I understand it with SMHI is if you sign off on a hail claim and say at harvest you feel there was more damage that what you were paid for, you can contact them to look at the claim again, I'm told that if you don't agree, you can appeal to the board of smhi itself. I have heard of people getting satisfaction from this process. I'm not aware of any other hail companies that do this, maybe others would know?

[sumdumguy]

In my experience, total waste of time. If they don't want to pay you, they won't. Don't buy the hype. They just say, "look it's all coming back." That's just my experience.

[jamesb]

On our farm we get hail enough that we would never go without insurance. We have had hail on lentils and peas many times but usually in the poding stage. the crop was already shutting down so it couldn't comeback. I don't think I could sleep at night if I didn't have hail insurance. I know a few guys that have backed off on their hail insurance when they went into GARS. I am watching that a little longer it see if that works ok before I consider that.