What a year we have had in 2020. In some ways it has absolutely flown by, leaving me wondering where the time went. In other ways, as I think back to memories of January and February, they feel like ages ago, not a mere ten or eleven months. With all of the chaos, uncertainty and surprises that 2020 presented us, it has been a year like no other.
Part of the adventure is that while we hope the flip of the calendar to 2021 will bring something entirely new, we simply don’t know. This upcoming year could be a time of learning to crochet and ballroom dance in our homes and repair muffler bearings in our shop while waiting for COVID to disappear, or it could be a year where we return to some form of normal – travelling, sharing time with friends and family, and gathering in large groups to cheer for someone shooting a puck or throwing a ball.
For the insurance industry, even before the pandemic, many insurers were in a state of scrutinizing their underwriting guidelines, rating, and goals for the sake of improving their profitability after years of declining results. This means that on top of seeing general rate increases on most lines of insurance coverage, brokers and clients were also asked to provide more information to insurers to qualify for the same coverage they had the previous year. Once the pandemic hit, we saw insurers react and tighten up even further than at the start of the year.
The one area of peace and tranquility for insurance markets this year has been insurance for grain farmers. In the midst of the chaos, we have found farm insurers excited to continue to grow and welcome new grain farms to their companies. We have also found that farm insurers in general are improving their wordings, increasing the values that they can insure (to accommodate increasing machinery and farm infrastructure values), and providing flexibility to find solutions for “outside of the box” farms.
For the grain farmers reading this, one thing you can be thankful for is that while there were many disruptions to life in 2020, farm insurance has not been one of them.
We thoroughly enjoy serving the ag community in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and we love to give back to the communities we serve, and are doing so again this year. We encourage you to enter a local charity or community initiative in this draw for their chance to receive a $1,000 donation. You can find all of the details for our Season of Giving draw on our website at rempelinsurance.com.
On behalf of the team at Rempel Insurance Brokers, it is our hope that when you reflect on this past year, you will find lots of reasons to be thankful, lots of memories that bring you joy, and an unimaginable amount of hope for the future. Merry Christmas!
David Schmidt is an Account Executive at Rempel Insurance Brokers in Morris, MB, specializing in insuring farms and businesses across Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Office (204) 746-2320 Text (204) 712-6618 Email davids@rempelinsurance.com Web www.rempelinsurance.com