Why You Need to Call an Insurance Adjuster Before the Combine Rolls

For farmers finding sprouted corn or deteriorating soybeans in fields, their next harvest decision may start with a phone call — not the combine.

Wet conditions across Iowa and parts of the Corn Belt are raising grain-quality concerns, reports Eric Weuve, Iowa State University Extension farm management specialist.

“We have gotten several inquiries from farmers about the issue, and it’s a hot topic of concern,” he says.

Weuve’s advice: Contact your crop insurance agent now. Waiting until after harvest could make it more difficult to document damage for insurance claims — timing is everything.

“Crop insurance is very unique because there’s the underlying multi-peril, which covers yield. If there’s enough damage from whatever causes the crop to drop yield, that can trigger an indemnity, but there’s a lot of other add-on products within crop insurance, like hail, and other quality factors that might also trigger an indemnity,” Weuve explains.

Don’t Let The Bin Change Your Claim

One of the biggest risks for farmers facing quality problems can be what happens after damaged grain leaves the field.

“Sprouting corn, rotting soybeans…can be a quality indemnity claim, but that has to be documented while the crop’s still standing,” Weuve emphasizes.

Once grain is harvested and placed in on-farm storage, the situation can change. If mold develops or grain goes out of condition in the bin, that generally becomes a storage issue rather than a production loss — even if the underlying problem began in the field.

“Crop insurance typically says ‘that’s not covered by us because that’s a storage issue, not a production issue,’ even though the underlying cause probably came in-season from ear molds or disease,” Weuve says.

Document Problems Sooner, Not Later

A farmer’s own samples may not be enough to establish a valid claim.

“A farmer can’t just collect their own samples and say, ‘Here, I had quality issues.’ Here’s my samples.’ That’s not going to probably fly in settling a crop insurance claim because they need the samples collected and verified by someone other than the insured,” Weuve notes.

His recommendation for questionable grain already in storage? “If it’s in the bin, you might want to just take it across the scale now and get it documented. An adjuster may be able to document in the bin, but that needs to be done shortly after you put the grain into storage. Empty it out of the bin and take it to the elevator and get it documented as a quality issue.”

Know What Makes A Quality Claim

Not every quality problem results in an insurance payment. Weuve says many policies require damage to reach a specified threshold — typically 10% in corn and 8% in soybeans — and the quality loss also must result in an economic loss under the policy.

“If you have 4% damage, crop insurance here in Iowa typically says that’s within normal range,” he explains. “And even if you have 10%, it has to go back to your multi-peril policy and trigger a yield or revenue claim on top of that.”

In other words, hitting a quality-damage threshold alone does not necessarily guarantee an indemnity. The loss also must meet the requirements of the farmer’s policy, including the applicable yield or revenue guarantee.

“It has to trigger an economic loss below your APH, which would be your trigger yield or your revenue per acre,” Weuve says.

Lodged Crops Could Create Another Insurance Avenue

Beyond quality issues, farmers dealing with lodged crops may have another avenue for assistance through extra harvest expense riders, which are frequently attached to hail policies.

“The harvest expense basically comes down to an excess of lodged corn, and that type of thing,” Weuve says. “So, if you have hail [and wind], the farmer might have a rider for extra harvest expense attached to their hail policy. That needs to be adjusted before harvest, and across the board, those generally pay 8% of your insured hail dollars per acre.”

With diesel prices significantly higher than in recent years, this coverage takes on added importance for farmers who must slow down to harvest lodged corn.

“That’s probably also front of mind now that we’re dealing with $6 diesel and not $3 diesel like we were at a year ago,” Weuve says. “If you have to slow down because of the lodged corn and consume a lot more diesel, those farmers might be able to collect on that extra harvest expense if they have that rider as part of their hail policy.”

This coverage can apply to soybeans as well. “There’s some pockets of very heavily lodged soybeans in Iowa, as well. There might be a potential trigger there if people have hail insurance on their beans and the beans are lodged,” he notes.

Weuve provides additional information on the extra harvest expense rider in his online article, Worth a Phone Call to Your Crop Insurance Agent?

Continue To Check Fields For Problems

Recent rains have created highly variable crop conditions, making field-by-field scouting important not only for harvest planning but also for identifying potential insurance issues.

“Field-to-field conditions are going to vary, and one field might be fine and in the next one, half the ears are all sprouted out and it looks like an Easter basket coming out the end of the husks,” Weuve says.

Alex Schaffer, Iowa Soybean Association field agronomist, is seeing significant variability across the central part of the state. Once soybeans or corn begin sprouting, farmers have limited options other than getting the crop harvested as conditions allow.

“There’s not a ton the farmer can do at this point besides waiting for it to dry up and prioritize fields for harvest based on severity,” Schaffer says. “It might come down to which acres are at more risk of future flooding. You may have to get in where you can when you can.”

As of Friday, only a single-digit percentage of the central Iowa crop had been harvested because of ongoing rains, Schaffer adds.

Do You Even Store Questionable Grain?

Quality concerns are prompting some farmers to rethink whether they even want to put questionable grain into on-farm storage.

“Because of potential for ear molds or mold on the soybeans, do we want to store it or do we want to just ship it across the scale and let the merchandiser figure out how to store it best? That is a valid concern that some people have had,” Weuve says.

For farmers who do opt to store grain with possible quality concerns, keeping it dry and cool is critical.

“The general rule of thumb I’ve always heard is don’t store that grain very long,” Weuve says. “Get it dry, get it cool, and get it out of the bin before next summer.”

Charles Hurburgh, Iowa State University professor emeritus and grain storage specialist, says rapid drying should be the priority this year. This is not a year to try to extend the shelf life of wet grain, he contends, noting that corn in the 20% moisture range is particularly vulnerable to mold.

“Hopefully you have a continuous dryer or batch dryer that you can take the moisture down in the 15%, 16% range fairly quickly,” he says. “That should largely stop mold growth in the bin; farmers then need to manage aeration and temperature to limit storage molds.”

Once grain is stored, monitoring temperature and condition becomes critical.

“Aerate the grain; don’t hesitate to do that,” Hurburgh says. “Take the temperature down, even if you can’t get it dry.
Temperature will be your friend in terms of controlling mold and storage.”

But if grain is damaged, there is no way to reverse it. “Farmers cannot remove that damage once it has occurred,” Hurburgh says, noting elevators may assess discounts for damage, discoloration, mold or sprouting.

Keep Your Insurance Agent In The Loop

Even as harvest progresses, Weuve says farmers should continue documenting changing field conditions and maintaining communication with their insurance agents and adjusters.

“Make sure you take photos, videos, document what conditions you were seeing, particularly if you’ve had an adjuster out there,” he says. “Have an open line of communication with your agent. ‘Hey, I know we talked two weeks ago, but things are really getting worse. Maybe we want to get the adjuster back out here.’”

The goal is to make sure potential losses are documented while there is still an opportunity to verify them.

“Have constant communication if you’re seeing any issues out there,” Weuve says. “More calls where your agent says ‘great, noted, not a concern’ is better than no call and for you to then realize after harvest, ‘Oh, I’m not going to get paid an indemnity because the crop’s already harvested, and I can’t prove that was my loss.’”