Liability insurance is rapidly becoming a major issue for everyone, farmers included. The implications for agriculture are multi-pronged and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture wants to ensure farmers understand these implications, both as individuals and as business operators.
From the industry perspective, agriculture stands to lose a number of its valuable custom operators – people who handle such jobs as custom applications of pesticides and manure. Their liability insurance premiums are skyrocketing beyond levels their businesses can bear.
Some livestock transporters may also have to exit the business because their liability insurance rates have shot out of reach. All of this will mean rapidly increasing production costs for farmers as the custom operators left will have to adjust their fees to reflect the increased liability insurance rates they will have to pay.
Governments across the country are scrambling to contain insurance rates, and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture is anxious to find solutions to the difficulties this situation is presenting to farmers and agriculture in general.
In an associated area, farmers may be facing liability issues when they head out onto the public roadways with self-propelled implements of husbandry. The Ministry of Transportation has very specific laws and regulations that apply to such vehicles and farmers need to stay up-to-date or be prepared to face the consequences.
Some of the obvious examples of self-propelled implements of husbandry, in addition to combines and swathers are school buses that have been converted to haul livestock, trucks that have been altered for use in hauling liquid manure or have been fitted with a gravity grain box.
Mistakenly, some farmers believe they can legally take vehicles like these onto public roadways by simply installing slow moving vehicle signs.
The vehicle has to have been modified or reconstructed to perform a specific farm use. These modifications must also render the vehicle unable to perform its original function.
Although there are no specific standards, all farm vehicles – tractors, combines, and self-propelled implements – must be in a safe condition when driven on public roads.
Farmers need to know what the law states in these situations. From information coming to the Ontario Federation of Agriculture on an on-going basis, it appears government officials – police and MTO representatives alike – sometimes attach differing interpretations of the existing laws.
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture is working with government representatives in an effort to reach a standard interpretation for these laws in order that meaningful enforcement can be applied. When this is accomplished, everyone concerned will be able to have confidence in the regulations and their enforcement.
Please make sure you, as a farmer, understand your liability exposure on and off the farm.
~Paul Mistele~
Ontario Federation of Agriculture Executive Member