8/18/2023 0 Comments California fire insuranceIn 2021, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 11 to include commercial farm structures in the FAIR Plan. “When we’re talking about farmers, they need to be able to access loans to build those farm operations and facilities.” “If you are a homeowner, you typically can’t get a mortgage to buy that home without being able to access insurance,” Ansel said. Without insurance, business owners, like homeowners, are generally ineligible for the loans they need to establish their operations. “Just like any business, you want to be able to have insurance to manage your risk,” said Peter Ansel, policy advocate for the California Farm Bureau, adding that the problem threatened the viability of farm businesses. Structures such as tasting rooms, outbuildings, packinghouses and storage facilities, some containing thousands of bottles of wine or other valuable commodities, became impossible for many farmers and vintners to insure. But the FAIR Plan long excluded commercial farm structures. The California FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort for those struggling to find coverage options, covers residences. Last week, the California State Senate passed legislation that would build on solutions signed into law in 2021 to improve insurance options for farms exposed to wildfire risk. “In certain zip codes, insurance carriers would not renew-or not even entertain in the first place-a property’s ability to get insurance.” “We started being targeted for living in an area that was susceptible to wildfires,” said Peter Nissen, a Napa County winegrape grower and president of the county Farm Bureau. Some have had their policies dropped altogether. Since the Thomas and Tubbs fires in 2017, farmers in parts of the state have seen the premiums on their property insurance policies rise exponentially. After the flames were extinguished, the threat of wildfires has continued to cost farmers in other ways. By Caleb Hampton - Wildfires that raged across California over the past several years have devastated farms, spoiling crops and burning farm buildings.
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