What does smallholder insurance cover?

Running a smallholding is hard work. It might be a small parcel of land, but it is still technically a working farm of sorts. If you only want to own a smallholding to have a lot of space, you might not need to worry about insurance. If you want to though, your miniature farm could become a business of its own. A successful smallholding can be lucrative, but it also can also drain your savings if not managed properly. From broken equipment to missing livestock, any of these problems could cause a loss.

Smallholder insurance is designed to cover you for any possible losses. A smallholding might be smaller than a farm, but there are still a lot of expenses. With cover, you can protect your wallet in case you have to pay out on replacements and damage.

Having insurance will be a weight off your mind. With A-Plan, you can work on your smallholding knowing that you have insurance.

What does smallholder insurance cover?

Smallholder insurance covers tools and machinery as well as the buildings you work in. Both livestock and produce are also covered for a loss. Whatever type of farming you may choose to engage in, we can provide you with excellent cover.

However, smallholder insurance will only cover the aspects of your property related to the farmwork. Your house and its contents will not be included as standard.

What counts as a smallholding?

A smallholding is a piece of land in the countryside between five and 50 acres. It’s enough land to be able to raise animals and grow crops, but smaller than typical commercial farms.

It doesn’t matter what type of land it is, or whether you choose to grow crops, raise animals, provide food for your family or run it as a business.

If you have more than 50 acres of land or less than five, it may be worth looking into other types of insurance to ensure that you are adequately covered.

Smallholder insurance is a necessity if you wish to run your land as a farm. It’s one thing to want to live the good life, but since you’re investing time and money into your smallholding, you’ll want to protect it.

Property and tools

It is really important to insure both the structures and contents of any buildings on your smallholding. These structures could be sheds or barns, whatever you need for storage. If a shed or barn winds up damaged due to the weather, the contents inside could be affected too and it could also make it easier for thieves to break in.

Smallholder insurance will cover these structures for damage and the theft of tools from inside them. Tools can be expensive to replace, as can repairs. You may need these tools and buildings to be able to continue to work.

Damage claims can be dealt with quickly, so you can replace any lost tools or fix any damaged buildings and get back to work as soon as possible. If you have any produce stored inside the buildings, and it is affected by the damage, then you are covered for that too.

Produce

If you’re running a smallholding as a farm, you will end up with produce. Many smallholdings tend to focus on crops due to the amount of space you have, but some farms may sell on animal byproducts too. The selling of the farm produce is what brings the money in, so it needs to be kept safe.

If the structures the products are kept in are damaged or the crops you’re growing don’t survive, you may wind up making a loss. For some smallholdings, this is easy to tackle, but others will need help. Smallholder insurance will cover your produce until it’s sold. That means that if it winds up stolen, or your crops fail, you are insured.

Our smallholders insurance also covers the loss of animal by-products in the same way it does crops. More importantly, we can also help if the animals themselves are sick or stolen.

Livestock

Livestock can be one of the most expensive aspects of farming. Not only do you need to buy the animals, but you have to pay for everything associated with them too. Feed and medicine are one thing, but you need to make sure you’ve dealt with all the paperwork too. Sometimes you’ll transport your livestock across the country, which can incur more costs.

Whether to disease or theft, the loss of livestock can be a major problem. Those who make their money from animals and can’t sell the milk or meat as planned will need to find some other way to get that money in. Replacement animals will be costly, but fortunately, smallholders insurance can cover this.

If you do have livestock, then you’ll also have the necessary machinery to help you look after them. That’s something else that needs to be covered by smallholder’s insurance.

Machinery and vehicles

The machinery and agricultural vehicles you use will help keep your smallholding running. Machinery is covered for the same reason that tools are. You will need your machinery to run so you can keep up with demand.

On top of that, you need agricultural vehicles to get across your land. Smallholdings might not be as big as a traditional farm, but they can still be built on difficult land. If you have tools that you need to move to a different field or shed, then a vehicle is as important as the tools themselves.

Bear in mind that smallholder insurance will only cover agricultural vehicles and machinery. A personal car or any machinery within your own home will not fall under this coverage.

Does smallholder insurance include liability insurance?

Yes, smallholder insurance includes a level of liability insurance. When you own land, there is the possibility of public thoroughfares passing through. If this is the case, or if there is any trespassing, anyone who gets hurt on your property can hold you liable. It does not matter if you didn’t cause the injury or if the person wasn’t supposed to be there. They can hold any injury to themselves or damage to their property against you.

Thus, you will need to insure yourself against any public liability for injury to people or damage to their property on your land.

Moreover, if you employ anyone, or if anyone chooses voluntarily to help out on your farm, you will need to be covered against any accidents or incidents they may experience. This means you need to make sure that your policy includes employer’s liability.

Does smallholder insurance include your house or cars?

No, smallholder insurance does not include your home or personal cars. These generally need to be insured separately in case anything happens to them.

However, it is possible to combine insurance if you use your house as part of your smallholding. Many smallholders use their home as a Bed and Breakfast whilst also living in it. If you wish to turn your house into a business, mention this when requesting a quote. Remember, if you turn your home into a business, there will be further paperwork to do, but it is possible with the right plan.

Nevertheless, cars cannot be covered by your smallholder insurance at all, and neither can pets.

How soon do you need to insure your smallholding?

There is no time limit on when you should insure your land. However, we recommend that you do so as soon as you have all the information you need. The sooner you are covered, the sooner you can stop worrying about any accidents.

Some people may worry about the extra expense of insurance, but it is sensible to buy smallholder insurance as soon as possible. Not doing so could mean you pay out a significant amount if any of your property is damaged or someone makes a claim against you.

What information do you need for a quote?

When arranging a quote, there is certain information you will need to hand. This is so we can decide accurately how much coverage you need.

The information generally needed is:

The acreage – if you use any of your land as a garden, you’ll need to note this as it’s considered part of the house.Where your land is – if you don’t live on the smallholding, this is important.The value of any outbuildings and their condition.The value of any stock and contents – you need two lists: one for the food or goods you have produced and one for your tools and machinery.The type and value of livestock you keep.What you want to insure your farm against – theft, disease and so on.The public rights of way on your land, if any – this is for the public liability insurance.If you have any employees or volunteers – you should list these individuals for employee liability insurance.The income of the smallholding – so we can see how much coverage you need.If you sell food or goods – we will need to know what and how.

If you are unsure how to get any of this information, then please don’t hesitate to contact us for help.