Hail Insurance?

[perfecho]

Just a dumb question...but.....would not hail losses be covered in regular production loss insurnace? You may have to wait until end of year to claim instead of getting paid out right away. (This is the view of a cattle producer, hence the dumb question!)

[Hopperbin]

Not a dumb question at all. Yes your crop insurance or caise revenue insurance will kick in if the loss was big enough. So as why I feel I don't need to take hail ins. as payments will get deducted from a caise payment and same for crop ins. payments. So in a way when you take out hail ins. you also are paying for coverage that you already have somewhat.

[Hopperbin]

Hail insurance payment won't get deducted from crop ins. payment. Crop ins. and hail ins. payment would get deducted from the Caise payment.

[sumdumguy]

There are so many variables in Agri- Stability(used to be CAIS. Livestock producers have their margins offset by calf crop, so if you have hail on your crops, you may not trigger AS. Also Crop Insurance, the coverage is limited. I like Hail Insurance because with most smaller line companies you are treated fairly and you get paid immediately. It dulls the sting of the big white combine when you run to the drawer and see $500/acre coverage. Go buy a baler. There is no comp[arieon between Hail Insurance and the other 2 programs and I've worked for both of them.

[sewen]

If you have a disaster like being hailed out, when would you see any money out of CAIS two years from now when it's too late? That's why I have crop insurance.

[Hopperbin]

I know a guy who finally got his 60,000 caise payment 4 years after he quit farming. But that was partly his own fault. He left it to his accountant and nothing was getting done. You need to phone them assholes weekly when you have a payment coming. I phoned weekly for 8 weeks once only to find out when I talked to the last person that my file was just sitting somewhere for 3 months for someone to look at and it was not getting done. Then it was put to immediate attention and finished up timely after that.

[Hopperbin]

Hail insurance money can also be handy if forced to buy out some grain contracts.

[Hopperbin]

Hopper and everyone else, Do you actually know what your correct reference margin is for AgriStability? If you go by the info sent by the administration, guaranteed it won't be current or correct. Does your accountant (if they prepare the form for you) or yourself provide an estimate of your payment entitlement or your reference margin support level going forward? I only know of one firm that does this, the rest just throw the numbers on the form and send it in. Once again, guaranteed it will be incorrect. We don't follow this procedure when we file income taxes, why do so many take this route when it comes to Agristability.

I am not sure why anyone would not carry crop insurance at some level, at least for high risk crops like canola. With AgriStability, if your margin is lower because of self insuring, you are compensated for the difference. Also, by carrying self insurance, you are insuring your support level for AgriStability. The two work hand in hand.

For those farms that are profitable and successful, their margins are high. For those that are struggling, the margins are the opposite. I have seen (because I am a preparer) margins for 2009 (adjusted for the accrual changes for 2008) as low as $50 and acre to as high as $214. These are mostly straight grain operations. I wish to comment that one with $214 and the majority with the higher reference margins, self insure with Crop insurance and selectively with hail insurance. By only relying on AgriStability, you will be short changed. For those of you that don't insure your crop and your livelyhood, I am guessing you don't plate your vehicles, insure your house etc either.....

I am a farmer myself and I carry both. Every year it varies based on costs and coverage levels, crop potential etc. From the day I started farming to today I am ahead when I look at premiums verses claims. I currently have a 50% discount level for crop insurance. For an average of $6 per acre to take crop insurance at 70-80% of my yield history, its a great sleeping pill.

[checking]

Gretzky, are you an average European farmer too? Enjoyed your comments on not plating vehicles, and insuring house. That's impressively insightful.

[gustgd]

We generally go with the disappearing deductible so $0 payout unless over 25% this cuts the premium by quite a bit.
We only insure up to the value of about $150 an acre,
We are insuring against total disaster, <25% hail we can absorb, it's those magors that can end a farm business.

We are spread out enough that hail generally does not hit the entire farm so crop yeilds are generally above crop insurance yeild guarantees even if we lose a couple quarters.
but it's those magors that can hurt

One year I spent 2 days riding around with the hail guy, then that weekend it hailed again same area, arm wrestling with an adjuster for a work week is something I would only wish on the most die-hard monoply supporters.