Talk to us about your Agribusiness, Food & Beverage
Agribusiness, Food & Beverage
There is a range of well-publicised challenges facing the agriculture and food and beverage sector in Australia. The ongoing challenges of climate change and drought conditions alone bring about property damage, the loss of crops and livestock, and increased costs for water, feed, and other Transport production expenses.
In response, the sector is introducing new technology to create more efficient and sustainable practices. Internet of Things technology, improved data collection and analysis, and renewable energy sources are gradually changing farming practices. These innovations are changing the risk exposure of the food production industries.
The limited number of insurers servicing the insurance needs of the sector is an additional challenge, with costly policies offering limited coverage where it’s needed most.
How we can help
Applying our Barrack Broking Principles, our primary focus is on understanding your agribusiness, food & beverage so that the advice we give helps you achieve your business objectives. This involves:
- Gaining knowledge of your current financial position, short-term goals and future objectives.
- Spending time with you to review your assets and investment in protecting those assets, for example, your use of new technologies.
- Considering practical solutions that can be introduced to manage the risks that are of concern to insurers, for example, your location and access to infrastructure, the construction materials of your assets, and hazardous farming activities such as crop spraying.
Protecting investment in Australian agriculture
- Protecting the existing physical assets through insurance, and
- Ensuring supplier contracts - with commercial nurseries, leases and contract farmers - were reviewed and appropriately structured.
- A risk management framework to cover immediate risks to the investment. The framework closely monitored changes in risk as further investment was made.
- A close working relationship with the investor's Operations Manager and collected detailed information regarding the properties and the planned program of rehabilitation.
- The interest of insurers to partner with the client, as we were able to give a clear view of the planned improvements and future direction.
- A review of supplier contracts which identified areas where the insurance of those suppliers was not in line with the investor's contractual requirements or did not meet usual local standards. We then designed some specific solutions to plug these gaps and enhance the insurance protection.
- In collaboration with the Operations Manager, protocols around notification of business changes. As further investment was made in equipment and infrastructure, the Operations Manager would be prompted to review the new contracts and agreements and adjust the level of insurance with our support.
