Naturally successful farm insurance agents are qualified professionals. Their number one function, and you know this if your have one,  is to make the unexpected occurrences in life a little easier and simpler for you, that it in a nutshell. From their professional perspective, they will help you select an insurance plan that works for you.  And if they are licensed to do so that help will also include auto insurance, insurance for your home and buildings, as well as life insurance and health insurance. They reach out to their companies and fellow farm insurance agents to provide valuable information about insurance, the risks that make it necessary, and how to protect yourself, your family, and your farm from those risks and at the same time strive to get the most for your money.

Like successful professionals of all types, a well respected insurance agent is one whose relationships with their customers is built on a foundation of shared values, quality service, mutual trust, and integrity.

In the case of farm insurance agents there is an additional vital component, something that goes far beyond their understanding of policy provisions, exclusions, and restrictions. It is their understanding of what makes their customers tick, as people. What is important to them and why. They must understand the importance of the legacy represented by the farm itself and they want to be there as part of the solution – with a helping hand, in all matters, not just insurance.

Unlike traditional businesses that buy wholesale and sell retail, that rely on the ages old keystone principle that insures revenues exceed costs, farmers are often forced to buy at near retail prices and sell their products at near wholesale.

Farmers, even more than most business owners, are caught in the middle – between the prices of inputs they can not control, the commodity prices they can not control, foreign and domestic politics and strategies they can not control, and the weather – something no one can control.

Money is always in short supply. Setting priorities and understanding the potential consequences of the decisions made for deploying these limited dollars is critical. When something bad happens where will the money to handle it come from? Will it come from the farmer’s nest egg, the farm business itself, or will your farm insurance agent show up with a check – new money being paid in, money that does not have to be repaid by anyone to anyone, ever.

For farm insurance agents this means that they must be ready to work with their customers to balance the risk/benefit insurance premium equation, to help manage the frequent imbalance between what the crop brings and how much it cost to produce it. Farmers know and their farm insurance agents must be willing to understand that some risks the farmer can and should manage themselves, some risks simply do not warrant insuring at all, and others, well the entire business will be lost if they are not covered properly.

Selecting the right farm insurance agent, as a confidant and collaborator in your future success, is a serious decision – but nevertheless one that may be a lot easier to do that you might suppose.  Think about it, an insurance agent is the retail end of the entire insurance continuum.  And like every industry for each agent in the field there are legions of highly trained experts on the speed dials back at the home office (where the insurance is manufactured).

It is less important than you think for them to know everything. What you should be looking for is someone who is willing to invest their time in understanding you and what’s important to you. They must be willing to ask the tough questions and wait for your answers. And finally, they must be willing to ask for help from the hundreds of experts they have instant access to – in order to create the right solutions for you.

Of course they may be experts in insurance and financial products of all kinds and that can be both good and bad. Good because they already have a lot of great ideas that have worked for other people like you. Bad if all that knowledge causes them to adopt the NIH (not invented here) syndrome.

They may have important professional designations, and they may already be a known quantity in your area, your community, or your association. Or they may be a brand new agent, just getting started. I don’t think it matters really – as long as they resonate with you.

They should be knowledgeable, experienced, willing to take the time to learn about you and your farm business, assertive in advocating your interests to the insurance companies they represent, well connected with the various types of insurance potentially required by you, and organized to need deadlines and respond to your changing needs.

By selecting farm insurance agents or brokers with these characteristics, you will get the help you truly need.

The right insurance professional can be an invaluable asset and an excellent resource.

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Ron, ChFC