Every fruit grower will know the sinking feeling that accompanies the sight of a heavily laden, darkly foreboding storm cloud approaching. They know that just a few minutes of hail could wipe out the value of a beautiful Class 1 crop, yet the costs of fulfilling that ruined crop will hardly diminish.
It is a fact that any skin blemishes will almost certainly render the fruit unable to meet the strict criteria of the major buyers and will make it unfit for anything other than juicing or processing. The grower will continue to have to care for and pick the crop as if it was undamaged to protect the health of the tree and prepare it for next season. This means that despite the return being decimated, the costs of production are barely reduced. The increased cropping rates and the modern fruit wall system, which reduces the protection that a tree’s branches naturally provide, coupled with the extreme weather patterns we now face each year, mean that the risk of loss from hail is increasing for fruit growers.
One of the difficulties in assessing the actual loss of value is market variability. It is usually some time before a value for the annual crop can be determined and the grower will not be able to account for the loss before the following season’s budget planning begins, with the complication and uncertainty that will create. So, to be effective for the grower, an insurance policy against hail should be able to offer a monetary value to the loss and pay this before the end of the growing year, enabling the grower to move forward into the next season with a clear financial picture. It probably won’t be as good as it would have been without the hail strike, but it will be better and more certain than if uninsured.
Since 1995, Weatherbys Hamilton has provided a policy specifically designed to ameliorate the financial effects of hail on a fruit growing business. It is a unique policy that delivers practical protection and addresses the specific pressures faced by growers. The policy compensates the grower for the depreciation in the value of a crop affected by hail. This is based on a self-selected sum insured by variety, by orchard, which means that the claim is not subject to the vagaries of the market and allows settlement to be made by the end of the growing year, easing critical pressure on cash flow. Additionally, and most importantly, it leaves to the grower whatever residual value may be achieved from the sale of the damaged crop, over and above the claim settlement amount.
This policy has been operating in the UK since 1995 and has, without fuss, settled claims year-on-year ever since. In recent seasons many growers, through participation in Producer Organisation schemes, have been able to benefit from premium subsidies made available via the RPA, allowing them to maximise their cover at a reduced price.
So, whilst that black cloud approaching still provides a threat, an insured grower will be somewhat less nervous at the prospect, knowing they have taken practical steps to soften the blow.