Agribusiness Insurance in Texas
Custom harvesting, hay sales, feed stores and larger livestock operations bring farm and business insurance questions together. Our independent Madisonville agency helps Texas agricultural businesses review property, equipment, liability, employees and hauling. Tell us what you produce and any work you do for others.
When a farm becomes an agribusiness
The line is not acreage, it is commerce: regular income, customers, contracts, employees, and trucks on the highway. A hay operation selling to feed stores, a custom baler working other people's fields, a cattle operation with hired hands and hauling, a feed and seed store, an ag services outfit. Each one carries farm risk and business risk at the same time, and the policy has to speak both languages.
That usually means a program, not a single policy: the property and equipment, the liability for the work and the products, the vehicles, and the people. We build it piece by piece against how the operation actually earns.
The pieces of an ag program
Property and equipment at scale
Barns, shops, storage, and the equipment line that costs more than the land did. Values move with the market, and the schedule should be read every renewal, not just carried forward. Farm equipment insurance
Liability for the work and the goods
Work on other people's land, products that leave your hands, buyers and haulers on your place. Custom work for neighbors is still commercial work, even on a handshake.
Ag trucks and hauling
Farm tags, commercial hauls, and the line between hauling your own and hauling for hire. Cross it without the right policy and a claim gets ugly. Our trucking page covers that whole conversation. Trucking insurance
The people who work it
Texas does not require workers' compensation of most private employers, but going without it means losing legal protection against most injured-employee lawsuits, and some contracts require it outright. It is a real decision that deserves the whole picture before you make it.
Where crop insurance fits
Federal crop insurance is a separate program administered by USDA's Risk Management Agency and sold through approved insurance providers and their agents. It is separate from the property and liability coverage discussed here. Include any crop policies when reviewing how the operation is insured.
TDI: Workers' compensation insurance guide (tdi.texas.gov) (opens in a new tab)
What to have ready
Operators know these numbers. Rough is fine.
- What the operation does and roughly what it grosses
- Buildings, equipment, and vehicles, with how each is used
- Employees and seasonal help, and any contracts that name insurance
- Current policies, so the program gets built without gaps or overlaps
Agribusiness questions we hear
Is a farm and ranch policy enough for my ag business?
Up to a point, and the point is commerce. Regular sales, custom work, employees, and highway hauling push past what most farm and ranch forms are built for. The honest answer comes from putting your operation next to your policy, which is the first thing we do.
Do I need workers' compensation for my farm crew?
Texas leaves that choice to most private employers, but the choice has teeth: without coverage you lose legal protection against most injured-employee lawsuits, and government contracts and some private ones require it. Farm work is physical work. We will lay out both sides with your actual crew in mind.
I do custom work for neighbors. Does that change my coverage?
Yes. Baling, spraying, dozer work, or hauling for anyone else is commercial work, whatever the paperwork looks like, and it raises liability and equipment questions your own-farm coverage may not answer. Tell us what you do off your own place and we will build for it.
A buyer wants a certificate of insurance before we deliver. Can you handle that?
Yes. Elevators, feed yards, and commercial buyers asking for certificates is normal, and for our clients producing them is part of the service. Bring the request and we will match the certificate to what it actually asks.
Does agribusiness insurance include federal crop insurance?
Federal crop insurance is separate from the property and liability program described here. USDA's Risk Management Agency provides an agent locator for that program. Bring any existing crop coverage to your farm and business insurance conversation so the responsibilities can be reviewed together.
What if my operation combines ranching with other business work?
Review the ranch and business activities together. Tell us about livestock, custom work, products sold, employees and hauling, and bring the existing policies. We can compare their terms with those activities and identify questions that need a separate policy or endorsement.
Build the program around the operation
Tell us how the operation earns: the ground, the equipment, the trucks, the people, the contracts. A licensed agent builds the program piece by piece and reads every certificate request that follows.
Stover & Crouch Insurance Madisonville, Texas, since 1920