Climate instability is reshaping risks on South African farms. Regularly reviewing your insurance and insured values to ensure that they reflect the cost of recovery is essential to maintaining balance sheet flexibility.
The infrastructure on farms that work well in mild weather conditions faces greater stress as the climate becomes more extreme. Image:Supplied
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Ask any farmer anywhere in South Africa whether the climate has changed and you won't get a principled answer. You'll hear about bouts of drought that last longer than before, rain that comes in intense bursts rather than steady cycles, veld fires that grow faster in dry, windy conditions, and heavy rains that damage buildings and infrastructure. Risks to South African farming are not new, but trends show that the frequency and intensity is changing.
If you've spent years building and maintaining what you have, the changing climate hits close to home. How much it costs to repair or replace something you rely on doesn't remain constant, and the pressure on your farm won't ease just because your insurance hasn't been reviewed.
The insured person is not always the same as the insured person
When costs start rising, they rarely go down. Repairing or replacing buildings and equipment after a bad weather often costs more than it did a few years earlier.
From irrigation systems to the machinery you rely on every day, infrastructure that works well even in mild weather conditions faces greater stress as the climate becomes more severe.
But insurance cover is often renewed without being properly reviewed, and over time a gap quietly opens up between what is listed in your insurance schedule and what you will realistically need to get back on your feet. You may not notice the difference until some unexpected event forces you to see it.
Cover set during mild conditions may no longer reflect what recovery costs after a severe condition, and insurance cover that once closely matched your situation may lag behind as the risk environment changes.
Cover the hard work that goes into your farm
If your insurance cover has fallen behind, it doesn't have to stay that way. Old Mutual Insure AgriPlus is designed for the way your farm is actually operated. It's structured based on what your farm depends on, including protection against loss or damage to machinery, equipment, household contents, farm buildings and contents.
If opted for, the cover can also be extended to include own luggage in transit, irrigation systems on wheels and spread of fire under the liability section.
the farm that shaped you
You cannot farm without it leaving its mark on you. Unexpected events and setbacks, hard lessons learned, the slow work of building something, your resilience and passion for farming, and years of knowledge passed down from generations are just part of the effort it took to get here.
Making sure your insurance cover still reflects the reality of your current and future needs is how you protect yourself.
Regular, open conversations with your broker about what has changed is one of the simplest ways to keep your insurance cover working as hard as it works.
Protect the one who created you. Talk to your broker about Old Mutual Insure AgriPlus.