If you’ve been following agricultural news lately, you’ve probably seen reports about parasite-related illnesses linked to fresh produce. While these situations are relatively uncommon, they can spread quickly through the news cycle and create concern among consumers, retailers, and producers alike.

Whether your farm grows produce, raises livestock, or produces grain, stories like these are a reminder of something every farmer already knows: agriculture is full of risks that can’t always be predicted.

Most farms spend a great deal of time preparing for the obvious ones: weather, equipment breakdowns, rising input costs, labor shortages, and commodity price fluctuations.

But every so often, something completely different comes along, like food safety concerns, contamination issues, disease outbreaks, or supplier problems. Usually, it arrives in the form of something that wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card six months prior.

That’s why successful farms don’t just prepare for what they do expect, they build resilience for what they don’t.

An adequate protection plan is one part of that conversation.

Many farm owners assume that because they have a farm insurance policy, every part of their operation is properly insulated. In reality, farms change constantly. New buildings go up, equipment gets upgraded, agritourism is added, produce is sold directly to consumers, or value-added products becoming a new source of income.

As the operation evolves, insurance needs to evolve with it.

A good insurance review isn’t just about selling more coverage. It’s about asking the right questions. It’s about discussing and addressing operational changes to the farm.

If something unexpected happened tomorrow, would your current policy respond the way you think it would? Are your buildings insured to today’s replacement costs? Have you added equipment or expanded your operation without updating your policy? If you sell produce directly to the public, farmers markets, or local retailers, are those exposures properly addressed?

The recent Cyclosporiasis story is unlikely to affect most farms directly. But it illustrates a much larger point.

The next challenge facing agriculture probably won’t look exactly like the last one.

The farms that weather uncertainty best are usually the ones that remember the 5 P’s we all learned in elementary school: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.

If it’s been a few years since you’ve had someone review your farm insurance with your operation in mind (not just your renewal paperwork) I’d be happy to sit down with you. My goal isn’t to tell you everything is wrong with your coverage. It’s to make sure your insurance keeps pace with the agricultural business you’ve worked so hard to build.

Although farming will always involve uncertainty. Your insurance shouldn’t.