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Farm Contingency Planning
Farm
Contingency planning is an important part of farm or ranch management. A contingency plan determines how a farm will respond to a crisis or disaster and how quickly it will be able to resume normal operations. Key decision makers can jump into action without having to come up with a plan in the middle of a crisis. If something tragic happens, are you prepared?
Insuring Your Farm and Home to Value
Farm
With today’s rising prices, being under-insured can create a serious financial shortfall when disaster strikes. If your property is inaccurately valued, you may not have enough coverage to fully replace your lost property, damaged equipment, supplies or inventory.
Diversifying your operation in the wake of COVID-19
Farm
When times are tight in agriculture, successful farmers and ranchers find a way to sustain revenue, even if it means trying something completely new.
That drive, combined with the spike in demand for farm-direct meat, produce and other ag products spawned by COVID-19, has many growers exploring new on-farm ventures to sustain revenue.
Electric Fencing Tips
Livestock
Whether you are a new hobby farmer looking to raise a few head of cattle or an experienced livestock farmer thinking about replacing your rusty barbed wire fence, electric fencing may work for you. Before you decide, here are ten things you need to know about electric fencing.
Spring Pasture Management 'Must Do's'
Livestock
Pastures are more than a food source to livestock, in many instances pastures are where the livestock spend their days, exercise and socialize. It’s up to the livestock owner to ensure that pastures provide not only a safe environment for the animals, but also adequate nutrition. For most, pasture management comes to mind during the spring when temperatures start to rise, however if you want to ensure you have productive pastures, proper pasture management practices must be adhered to e
Anhydrous Ammonia (NH3) safety tips from Nationwide
Farm
When you hook up an anhydrous ammonia (NH3) tank to head to the field, you're preparing to provide your corn crop a cost-efficient source of nitrogen. You're also taking responsibility for a potentially dangerous chemical that can be deadly if not handled responsibly.
Gifting Large Farm Assets
Farm
Farm transition planning isn't something many farm families want to discuss. The process that creates a blueprint for a farm's future is often an emotionally charged issue, especially when family farmers face the challenges of relinquishing control to the next generation.
Returning your farm business to normal during the pandemic
Farm
Businesses, schools and other institutions around the U.S. and world were faced with shutdowns as everyone scrambled to stay ahead of the COVID-19 virus. Though many farm operations and other agribusinesses have remained at least partially operational throughout the pandemic, there is a strong desire to return to normal operations.
Mitigating storm damage with stronger grain bins
Farm
Mitigating storm damage to farm buildings and their valuable contents is a big part of farm risk management. If high winds are a concern on your farm, stronger grain bins can protect your stored grain and the revenue potential it represents.
Nationwide Farm Certified agent: A trusted advisor for your farm operation
Farm
The growing sophistication of today’s farmers and ranchers calls for a strong understanding of the challenges and risks inherent to 21stcentury agriculture. When you see an agent is On YourSide®Nationwide Farm Certified, you can rest assured he or she is a trusted advisor with the training and experience necessary to help you overcome those challenges now and well into the future.
Farm Telematics
Farm
With the growing number of truck and vehicle fleets being maintained on today’s large farms, farmers face increasing work in keeping track of every worker and machine. While that evolution opens up new risk exposures, safety is just one of the value propositions that makes telematics a worthwhile addition to any large farm operation.
COVID-19 and farmer liability concerns
Farm
The COVID-19 pandemic poses major agricultural workforce management challenges. Overcoming them takes the right mix of administrative and engineering controls.
Benefits and risks of adding agritourism to your farm or ranch
Farm
Agritourism is a great way to capitalize on the natural draw of your landscape, connect non-
farm families to agriculture and create new revenue streams for your operation. But these
benefits are not without risk.
Qualifying for Social Security as a farmer or rancher
Farm
For many Americans, Social Security makes up a sizable amount of their income in retirement. In 2018, 63 million Americans received approximately one trillion dollars in Social Security benefits, with a majority of those funds going to retired workers. However, due to the way in which many farm operators utilize the tax code to adjust their income, many farmers run the risk of not qualifying for Social Security retirement benefits.
Nationwide: Protecting Farming and Ranching Families with Life Insurance
Farm
As a farmer just getting started, you may have incurred personal debt in order to finance the growth of your farm. This debt has a life of its own and will survive your premature passing. This debt means that less of your assets will be available to support your loved ones. A level term life insurance policy that covers the duration of your debt is an easy and cost-effective way to help make sure your debt does not burden your loved ones after your passing.
Thermal imaging provides farmers a ‘sixth sense’
Farm
A couple hours of downtime due to equipment failure can be costly. That’s especially true for large farms with multiple, complex operations happening at once. Thermal imaging can help you stay on top of machinery and equipment performance and prevent small issues from becoming big costly problems.
Helping farmers cope with COVID-19 stress
Farm
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released data prior to the pandemic showing farmers are five times more likely to commit suicide than the general population. Now, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some farmers are experiencing stress and anxiety levels like never before.
Paying for Healthcare in Retirement
Farm
For many farmers, retirement is just not something they intend to do. While the average age of a U.S. farmer continues to climb and now stands at 57.5 years, health issues may force some operators to retire or semi-retire from the day-to-day farm activities earlier then intended. A large consideration facing aging farmers or ranchers is the health care options available to them. . . and how they will pay for these services. For many Americans 65 and older, the answer is Medicare.