Need Advice - Crop loss due to fire

[John Slejpner]

Hi, its been a while since i posted but anyway.

Tuesday pm we lost 60-70 ha wheat when an off farm urban fringe fire got away with a stiff breeze behind it.

Have a meeting next week with insurers assessor.

What is involved?
TIA

 

[John Slejpner]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1743263185922194/user/100000118715579/

don't know if this link will work

 

[teslacoils]

Sorry to hear about the fire. Suggest you take your agent, and some of the last 5 years verifiable crop yield data.

 

[Badshot]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1743263185922194/user/100000118715579/

don't know if this link will work

It takes you to the main page, had to scroll a long way to find the fire.
Hell of a fire there.
Must have been scary as.
Don't let them pay on last year's yields, this year's much better already, in Kent anyways.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1743263185922194/permalink/3265401610375003/?sfnsn=scwspmo&ref=share

Try that link

 

[Flat 10]

What aspect of insurance covers this please? I had a panic in bed the other night wondering if we were covered. good luck with the claim @John Slejpner

 

[Jon 3085]

What aspect of insurance covers this please? I had a panic in bed the other night wondering if we were covered. good luck with the claim @John Slejpner

During lockdown I asked this question to the NFU mutual due to the farm being covered in people wandering around if there was a fire and the reply was that we weren’t covered.We took out business protection insurance to cover it.

 

[Flatlander]

Get all the info you can on the person who lit the fire or was in charge of managing it. Chances are everyone there will be pointing the finger at someone else. Your insurance might pay you then go after the ones responsible. Our crop insurance and general farm insurance won’t cover crop loss due to fire unless it in a bin. if you do get to be compensated don’t forget it was being grown on a seed contract and worth 50% above top grade milling with the straw going into small bales for horses, and naturally you’ll need therapy because you now can’t sleep because of traumatic nightmares.

 

[CPF]

if the fire came from urban source cannot you claim off their insurance (household insurance)?
Thought this would be what your insurance company would be doing?

speak to your insurance company and the assessor and ask for a agenda for the meeting questions they would like answers for .
save a lot of time on the day.

 

[Nigel Wellings]

Insurance cover will be provided under your farm business policy either through business interruption cover or under produce and deadstock. Both of these sections of cover should automatically cover growing crops. Loss Adjustors job on behalf of Insurers is to find out background information to the claim (what started fire etc), assess the size of the loss and to check that you are adequately insured in terms of your sum insured.
Your claim is obviously fairly substantial with the area lost,I would expect your insurance agent/Broker to be assisting you with the claim . I am hoping you have revised your insured values over the last 6 months in view of current market values. If I can be of any further help do not hesitate to PM me.

 

[# Robin]

My only experience is that it’s the arable income that’s insured not the wheat itself.

This year some of us could be underinsured due to prices and I was underpaid on a large claim once as they assessed I was underinsured - they valued everything including what wasn’t affected and then pro-rata’d my payout saying I was underinsured by 25%.

I would double check your policy values and do your sums before declaring your full hectarage and expected arable income.In this year of fluctuating crop prices I’ve been told they will honour if you’re insured for at least 75% of the value at latest pricing

 

[John Slejpner]

Thanks for the replies.

Its funny but it took a couple of days for the penny to drop that for a claim of this size we needed professional help. ie as Tesla suggested.
Sometimes what should be obvious, apparently isn't!
We would appear to be fully insured re total values and business interruption.
We instigated a review this spring wrt increased crop prices in particular, but also because my buying of certain key inputs has changed, eg buying of glyphosate by the pallet and months ahead of actually using it.

Fire started half way down a well walked cart-track, about 150 meters from a roundabout. Adjacent to the roundabout are both suburbia and an industrial estate.
Fire officers suggest that there will be an inquiry, but that there is no obvious cause. (Informally at 6am the next morning when we were both independently on hotspot patrol.)

 

[maxxum5120]

If its with the nfu mutual the local assesor for your area will come to see you, who generally is a local farmer appointed to value your loss and agree a rate per acre, and the area lost, so if its a field of wheat ready to harvest tons acre of grain plus straw income per acre with a deduction to cover cost of harvesting/carting etc which you have not got.

 

[possumbility]

surely you cant get straw income as all the nutrients of far more value are sat on top of your field.

 

[maxxum5120]

surely you cant get straw income as all the nutrients of far more value are sat on top of your field.

Possibly, except if you are a mixed farmer what do you then bed your livestock on?

 

[Clive]

Thanks for the replies.

Its funny but it took a couple of days for the penny to drop that for a claim of this size we needed professional help. ie as Tesla suggested.
Sometimes what should be obvious, apparently isn't!
We would appear to be fully insured re total values and business interruption.
We instigated a review this spring wrt increased crop prices in particular, but also because my buying of certain key inputs has changed, eg buying of glyphosate by the pallet and months ahead of actually using it.

Fire started half way down a well walked cart-track, about 150 meters from a roundabout. Adjacent to the roundabout are both suburbia and an industrial estate.
Fire officers suggest that there will be an inquiry, but that there is no obvious cause. (Informally at 6am the next morning when we were both independently on hotspot patrol.)

consider employing your own loss adjuster - our Acres policy covers cost of that so we have someone working for us and fight our corner rather than just trying to keep claim as low as possible

 

[bobk]

You could stand by crops with a 35kg bottle of gas and a big torch , it won't go up , plssed down for 4 days

 

[John]

I’m guessing this is the fire on George Saunders video on YouTube looked like a fairly new tractor trying to put a fire break in also caught fire

 

[John Slejpner]

I’m guessing this is the fire on George Saunders video on YouTube looked like a fairly new tractor trying to put a fire break in also caught fire

yes

 

[John Slejpner]

consider employing your own loss adjuster - our Acres policy covers cost of that so we have someone working for us and fight our corner rather than just trying to keep claim as low as possible

We did / are doing.

 

[Sid]

consider employing your own loss adjuster - our Acres policy covers cost of that so we have someone working for us and fight our corner rather than just trying to keep claim as low as possible

Wow!

Who you have the policy with are working against you rather than with you!
What a faff!