The exceptionally wet fall and winter months have set our wheat crop up for a good start! If only we could get the commodity prices headed in the right direction, we wouldn’t have anything to complain about, would we? As Gary said, we have started meeting with you all to make sure that your policies are set up and ready to go for Spring planting. As the commodity prices are low, most insureds are looking at their bottom dollar as the year starts off. One thing we don’t want you to skimp on is cutting yourself short on insurance. There is always an opportunity to cut-back, but when things are tight you can’t afford not to have adequate coverage on your crop. When we were hit with the horrible storms last summer, we felt assured that our farmers were covered as well as they were. I know it hurts to write that check for your insurance premium, but when we are hit with a hail storm as severe as we have had, the indemnity payments or hail payments that came back to our insureds kept us convinced that these programs are out there to help protect your bottom line.
A few of the things we are reviewing from now until March 15th is your current level of multi-peril coverage and any hail/HPP coverage changes that may need to be made. Hail coverage can be just as important as your multi-peril level of coverage. Multi-peril policies cover for any type of damage to your crop (drought, water failure, wind, etc), but only up to a certain level (for instance 70% coverage). At a 70% coverage level, that still leaves 30% of your crop out there to chance. We offer many different types of hail coverage to protect your crop at a price that works best for you. Even a basic hail plan on your crop can help you survive the storm. I’ve enjoyed getting to know each of you and your farming operations over the last several months. We live in a great community surrounded by great people. We appreciate your business and look forward to a successful 2016. Blessings.