Business stock insurance through Avéro Achmea
In the agricultural and horticultural sector, stock rarely stands still. It breathes, sprouts, warms up and loses quality, and it is precisely that behaviour that most policies exclude.
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In brief
Finass arranges cover from Avéro Achmea's commercial range. We are not tied to this company and compare several insurers objectively. What you store determines which quotation holds up. Stock cover in this sector is about harvested produce in store, roughage, seed potatoes, planting material, fertilisers and crop protection products. If you also trade in goods you buy in and resell, a trading stock cover.
also comes into play. an event and a process. Fire, storm, lightning strike and burglary are events: sudden, identifiable, covered. Sprouting, fermenting, self-heating, drying out, rotting and shrinkage are processes, and they fall under inherent defect and gradually acting influences. A batch of onions that deteriorates in store because it was brought in at too high a temperature is therefore not an insured loss, even though it feels like a major one.
The second distinction is value. Your own harvest has no purchase invoice; payment is then based on production costs or on market value at the time of the loss, and those two are far apart. A fall in the market price is never insured. If your business comes to a halt because the store is empty, that loss comes from an agricultural business interruption insurance; the building itself sits on the buildings section.
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We report the claim and monitor how it is handled. In urgent cases you can reach us on the emergency line.
What to look out for
Four elements of the policy that decide whether a loss in store is paid for.
Self-heating and spontaneous combustion
Grass ensiled too damp, hay baled too wet or straw that heats up afterwards can lead to fire. Self-heating and spontaneous combustion of the batch itself are almost always excluded. Only the damage the resulting fire causes to other property is covered. Insurers set requirements for the storage place and for temperature measurement. Record those measurements, because you will be asked for them.
Failure of the storage climate
Refrigeration, ventilation and controlled-atmosphere storage are the heart of a storage shed. A fault in the installation or a power cut does not fall under the standard cover. There is a separate clause for that with requirements such as a fault alarm, a maintenance contract and sometimes a minimum duration of failure. Planned power cuts and deferred maintenance remain outside the cover even with that clause.
Vermin, gnawing damage and loss of quality
Gnawing by rodents and birds, attack by insects and mould growth appear as exclusions on the policy, as does loss of quality without an identifiable insured event. Loss of weight through shrinkage is also not damage in policy terms. What remains is the storage place itself: it must be sound, dry and easy to clean, and that is usually a condition of acceptance.
Look at fertilisers and chemicals separately
Storage of fertiliser, diesel oil and crop protection products changes the fire and environmental risk of the whole site. Declare the nature and quantity; Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code requires this and Article 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code governs the consequences if it is not correct. If a substance leaks into the soil after a spill or a fire, cleaning it up is not a stock claim but a matter for the environmental damage insurance.
What does your premium depend on?
- Type of product: ware potatoes, onions, seed potatoes, roughage or bulbs
- Method of storage: in boxes, bulk, refrigerated or controlled atmosphere
- Construction type of the storage place: fire resistance, insulation material and compartmentation
- Basis of value: production costs or market value at the time of the loss
- Storage of flammable substances: diesel, fertiliser and chemicals on the same site
- Additional clauses: storage climate, alarms and period of storage
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | Basic | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| A lightning strike sets the storage shed alight with the whole batch inside | Yes | Yes |
| A storm tears off the corrugated sheets and the rain reaches the bulk grain | Yes | Yes |
| A burglary at the shed in which a batch of seed potatoes is taken | No | Yes |
| A forklift knocks over a racking unit and the boxes beneath are crushed | No | Provided that |
| The batch of onions is lighter at the end of the season through shrinkage | No | No |
| The market price falls while your harvest is still in store | No | No |
These columns only say what is paid for; how much that is follows from the sum insured and the basis of value on your policy schedule.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
My batch is deteriorating in store. Can I claim for that?
Only if an insured event underlies it, such as fire or a fault covered by an included climate clause. Rot, sprouting, swelling and mould without an identifiable cause are treated as inherent defect of the product and are excluded. Keep your temperature and ventilation log, because that is how you show it was a fault and not the storage process.
How is your own harvest valued after a loss?
There is no purchase invoice, so the calculation uses the costs you have incurred up to that point or the market price on the date of loss, depending on what the policy schedule says. Set that basis down in advance and not only when a loss occurs. A market price lower than you had counted on is not an insured loss. The policy pays for the goods, not for your sales strategy.
Does stock held at a colleague's or a contractor's premises count?
Only if that address is expressly stated on the policy schedule. Moving to a rented shed or a neighbour's empty barn happens often in a busy season, and that is exactly the moment the cover stops. Notify the temporary location in advance with an estimate of the value held there. That is usually arranged within a day.
When do I have to report a claim?
As soon as you are reasonably aware of it, as Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires. With storage losses that is difficult, because the loss shows itself gradually. So report at the first concrete signal, for example a fault alert or an abnormal reading, and do not wait until delivery. That way the cause can still be established and you limit argument afterwards.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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