Farm Insurance

If you work in the agricultural industry, you don't need us to tell you how difficult it is to run a farm in Australia. Luckily, farm insurance can provide you with much needed financial protection. It can cover you if a storm destroys your crops, your livestock get sick or someone tries to sue you — it can even pay to repair or replace machinery.

What is farm insurance?

Farm insurance is a type of business insurance tailored to those working in the agricultural industry. It can cover farm owners and operators for things like building, crop and livestock insurance. In many cases, you can tailor a policy to suit your farm and business's needs.

In lots of cases, brokers can work with you to do this.

What does farm insurance cover?

Farm insurance provides financial protection against the everyday risks you face as a farmer, from destroyed crops and property damage to liability claims.

What's typically covered

Farm insurance typically covers the following:

• Home and contents. Farm insurance can cover your home and the items inside it from loss or damage due to natural disasters, theft or any other accident.
• Farm property. You can also get cover for your rural property. This can include financial help if machinery, buildings, silage, grain or livestock is damaged or destroyed.
• Farm liability. This covers you against liability claims for property damage or personal injury as a result of your business operations. This can include legal costs you might incur to defend yourself.
• Farm vehicles. If you have any agricultural vehicles, this can protect them from loss or damage.
  Crops. If hail, fire, overspray, transit, livestock intrusion or storage loss damages or destroys your crops, this can cover you.

Extras that you can add-on

Many farm insurance policies also come with a few add-ons. These can include cover for:

Business Interruption. If something happens and you need to temporarily stop work on your farm, this can pay you lost income.

Transit. Cover for goods and items while in transit.

Machinery breakdown. If a piece of farm machinery breaks, this can cover repair costs.

Tax audit. This can cover the professional fees associated with hiring an accountant to assist you if you are audited.

Equine and stud stock. This can cover you if your stock dies by accident, illness or disease.

Personal accident. If you hurt yourself and need to take time off working, this can compensate you for the lost income.

Why do I need farm insurance?

If you rely on your farm to generate an income, you need to consider getting farm insurance. When something goes wrong, it can make sure you're not seriously out of pocket, whether that means covering the costs of broken machinery or paying legal fees if someone tries to sue you.

Even if you run a hobby farm, you still need to think about taking out farm insurance. Farming is a dangerous activity that requires dealing with machinery and animals on a daily basis. Things regularly go wrong — but farm insurance can make sure your hobby doesn't turn into a financial disaster.

Frequently asked questions

• What is hobby farm insurance? Is it any different?

  Hobby farm insurance is a different type of farm insurance tailored specifically to small-scale farms. It generally covers you for both your domestic home and contents as well as providing you with liability cover.

• Is there a difference between farm insurance and rural farm insurance?

  No. You'll often find that farm insurance and rural farm insurance are used interchangeably.