Iowa century farm concerned for future after struggling to find insurance coverage

HUMBOLDT COUNTY, Iowa — Since 1976 century farms have been recognized and celebrated across the state of Iowa. Over 21,000 families have owned their acreages for more than 100 years, including David and Julie Larson near Rutland. Maintaining these farms takes care and routine investment, but they never thought something like basic insurance coverage would threaten their future on the farm.

“You can’t predict the weather, you have to have it. But, after the natural disasters that have gone through the state, the wind, the hail, the derechos, insurance has gone up 30% is what they’re saying and it seems like even more, and it seems like nitpicky reasons why they don’t want to insure you and pretty soon, yes, we aren’t going to be able to be here,” Julie said.

“If there was a disaster we would never be able to rebuild out of our pocket,” David added.

The Larsons were told last December their insurance carrier, Farmers Mutual Hail, would no longer provide coverage in the state. They were forced to shop for a new carrier to cover their home and auto policies.

In 22 years on the farm, they’ve never had a homeowners claim. They’ve had two auto claims – one in 2013 for hail damage and another in 2018 after hitting a deer. As they shopped for a new insurance carrier, they were shocked with what they found.

“I found someone local who would insure us and we thought we had it done and they came back very reasonable and we were not two weeks into the policy and I got a phone call from the agent and they wanted another 1,300 dollars,” Julie explained. “They wouldn’t insure this as an acreage, they wanted to insure it as a farm because we have farm buildings.”

The Larsons are now looking for a new carrier and they’re not alone. Statewide insurance policies are up anywhere from 18-40% as the frequency and severity of claims nationwide and here in Iowa have spiked.

“This is becoming a more frequent ordeal, especially in the state of Iowa,” Katie Rosenboom, Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa Board Member, said. “Hail storms are known to happen. The cost of roofs, siding, and inflation also plays a huge part. When you get your renewal, if you have a huge rate increase, don’t jump ship. It’s very important you talk to your insurance agent about ways you could lower your cost.”

Katie says the reason you should try and adjust and stick with your carrier is if you do move to a new provider and you have a loss within that first year, the likelihood you’ll be dropped and then find yourself uninsurable increases.

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