Insurance Continued from Page 3
wasn’t hopeful but would see what he could do. Meanwhile, Rudkin called sev- eral companies himself. “They immediately said, well, what’s your zip code?” Rudkin said. Upon hear- ing the answer, he added, they told him: “I’m sorry, we can’t write insurance for you. You’re in a wildfire zone.” He looked at the FAIR Plan, calling it “a good effort to try to help give growers and farmers a relief, togive themsomebottom to their fire-insurance needs.” However,
in his case, he decided “the FAIR Plan wouldn’t giveme thekindof coverage that I need for the structures I’ve got.” Finally, in early April, a new insurance company paid his farm a visit and wrote a policy. While it offers the same coverage ashisoldinsurance, thepricehasdoubled, he said. “That has been the consequence that most of my neighbors have faced, who have gotten insurance,” Rudkin said. Rudkin said he’d l ike to see the
Department of Insurance look into the wholesale cancellationof insuranceby zip code that he believes is happening. “If theyhaveawildfireexposuremodel, I haven’t beenable to find it onthe internet,” Rudkin said. “I’d like to see it, and I’d like toknowwhat is thecriteria forapplying the wildfire exposure to the geographic area that’s in that zip code.” (Kevin Hecteman i s an ass i stant editor of Ag Alert. He may be contacted at khecteman@cfbf.com.)
homesteads that can easily be overlooked for community-designation purposes. Last year, California Farm Bureau and Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara held several roundtable meetings with FarmBureau members and staffers around the state, at which farmers related their struggles to secure insurance in the wake of devastatingwildfires. One result was the signing last summer of Senate Bill 11, which added farmstruc- tures to the list of commercial properties that couldbe coveredunder theCalifornia FAIR Plan. FAIR, which stands for Fair Access to Insurance Requirements, is the state’s insurer of last resort. Before the bill was signed, a farmer could insure only a residence under the plan. At Lara’s direction, last fall, the FAIR Plan’s limits for commercial properties were raised from$4.5million to $8.4mil- lion. The business-owner limit was raised from$3.6million to $7.2million. Losing his insurance very nearly forced Rudkin out of farming. “I actuallymade thedecision, since I’ma small grower, that if I couldn’t get insurance onmy home… that I would have no alter- native but to take the drastic step of taking downmyorchard,”hesaid.“Infact, Iactually contactedsomepeopleaboutdoingthat,be- cause theonlyalternative insurance I could get …was if I was a nonagricultural opera- tion, whichmeant I couldn’t have any or- chardonwhichmystructuresaresituated.” Rudkin said his broker told him he UC poultry expert offers bird flu tips A University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources poultry expert urges commercial and backyard chicken owners to take precautions as avian influ- enza is infecting andkillingwildbirds and domestic birds in at least 29 states. “In order to protect our commercial and backyard chickens, it is essential for all of us who own poultry to do our part,” said Maurice Pitesky, UC Cooperative Extension poultry specialist. The current avian influenza outbreak is already considered the worst since the 2015bird fluoutbreak,whennearly50mil- lionpoultrybirdswereeuthanizedordied. The virus is being spread by migrating birds, and California is part of the Pacific migratory flyway. “Waterfowl migrate thousands of miles betweenwinteringandbreeding locations and have long been known to be the natu- ral reservoirs for avian influenza viruses, which are associated with highmortality inpoultry,”Piteskysaid. “Manyof thesemi- grating ducks, geese and swans winter in therelativelywarmerclimateofCalifornia’s Central Valley, among other locations, where they can find appropriate habitat.” For more information, see the UC Cooperative Extension poultry website, ucanr.edu/sites/poultry/Resources_335/ HPAI. Poultry owners with questionsmay reach Pitesky atmepitesky@ucdavis.edu.
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April 27, 2022 Ag Alert 15
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