Why Do Agricultural Consultants Need Insurance?
Agricultural consultants are expected to be agriculturalists, veterinarians, economics experts and counsellors – all on the same day. Agricultural consultant insurance can protect your income from the risks that come with helping farmers earn theirs.
Liability Protection for Agricultural Consultants
As an agricultural specialist, your clients rely on your expertise and recommendations for their livelihood. That level of responsibility carries with it the burden of potential liability. Mistakes happen to everyone but even when you’ve dotted all the ‘i’s and crossed all the ’t’s, a loss suffered by a client could lead them to take legal action against you.
For Which Scenarios May Agricultural Experts Need Legal Defence Coverage?
Errors & Omissions (E&O) / Professional Liability Insurance can provide legal protection in the following scenarios:
- Disease spreads through a rancher’s livestock infecting several animals that need to be put down. The rancher serves your consultancy with a lawsuit citing your negligence in not recommending the necessary preventative measures
- A farmer plants crops as per your recommendations but a miscalculation of the soil’s cation exchange capacity and base saturation levels or mismeasurement of the soil’s pH, phosphorus or potassium levels lead to crop failure and a subsequent lawsuit
- Your marketing recommendations cause a farmer to lose money
- A rancher or farmer misunderstands or misapplies your recommendations, experiences a loss and sues to recover those losses
Legal coverage provided by E&O insurance for agricultural specialists can include lawyers’ fees, legal defence costs, out-of-court settlements and damages awarded by a court or tribunal.
What Types of Insurance Do Agricultural Consultants Need?
Commercial General Liability Insurance provides legal protection for agricultural advisors either at your place of business or at a farm from lawsuits alleging personal injury or property damage and can also cover false advertising and libel/slander lawsuits.
Property Insurance provides coverage for your building and contents in case of perils such as flooding, fires, sewage backup and others. Optional extensions include floater coverage for your agricultural tools and equipment while in transit as well as:
- Business Interruption insurance for lost income after an insured peril; and
- Extra Expense coverage to set up a temporary agricultural consultancy following an insured peril.
Cyber Liability & Privacy Insurance considering the sensitive nature of the data stored on the devices of an agricultural consulting business, a breach of your devices or network could cause a chain reaction of losses and expenses. Cyber insurance can provide coverage for third-party losses, ransomware costs, data and systems restoration and more.
Commercial Auto Insurance / Commercial Vehicle Insurance as a horticultural consultant, you are constantly driving – in rural areas no less – and hitting an animal or sliding off the roadway can occur just as easily as a fender bender on your way to a client’s farm. Commercial auto/vehicle liability coverage is needed to protect employees from accidents that take place during the course of business and pay for their medical bills.
Get ALIGNED with Commercial Insurance and Risk Management Experts
We work with Canada’s top insurance companies to get you agricultural professional liability insurance policies tailored to your needs. Contact an ALIGNED advocate to get a free quote on agricultural consultant liability insurance in minutes or get started right away by using our free online tool.
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