Agribusiness

From natural perils like droughts and floods, to biosecurity threats and ever-changing environmental regulations, modern Australian agribusinesses face increasingly greater liability risks.

Marsh Australia’s Agribusiness Practice provides advisory and transactional services to help agribusinesses manage these exposures. Using both global and local knowledge, Marsh helps mitigate the production risks faced by corporates, large and small family-owned producers, investment funds, and supply chain businesses in the cotton, broadacre, horticulture, viticulture, aquaculture, poultry, and other livestock industries.

Marsh provides solutions and services that are relevant to the unique risks of agricultural clients, including:

• Transportation of livestock.
  
• Regional and rural produce and suppliers.
  
• Grain handling and storage.
  
• Stowage and management of chemicals.
  
• Storage and management of fuel (above or below ground).
  
• Supply chain modelling.
  
• Workforce strategies.
  
• Care, custody, and control issues.
  
• Professional liability matters, including errors and omissions relating to the failure to conform to the purpose sold.
  
• Foreign exchange, interest rate, trade, and commodities price risk.
  
• Contractual liability exposures for storage arrangements.
  
• Exposure to weather-related events.
  
• Computer controlled assistance with irrigation and crop management.
  

Among the specific services we provide:

Business continuity planning (BCP) — The breadth of risks faced by agribusinesses, means operators must consider such complex issues as crisis management, loss of life, and damage to physical assets and livestock. Marsh’s BCP specialists and crisis readiness consultants take a holistic approach to reducing your exposure to financial, operational, and service-related risks. Our BCP planning targets biosecurity, supply chain management, and continuous improvement.

Parametric products — A range of parametric insurance products can help mitigate the risk of weather-related earnings volatility. Crop-shortfall and damage solutions can also be tailored to the needs of various stakeholders across the agricultural supply chain, from input suppliers to commodity processors. These can include agreed payouts in the event of too much or too little rainfall recorded in a specific area (as measured by the Bureau of Meteorology) or if a cyclone is noted as passing within a designated area.  

Environmental risk and liability solutions — Agribusiness companies must contend with multiple environmental risks, including nutrient management, animal waste, and fuel storage, among others. Through blanket pollution liability programs, remediation cap coverage, cost cap coverage for known contaminations, and asset-specific protection, our environmental risk specialists can help you rein in environmental exposures.

“Agrigap” — In addition to risk transfer services, Marsh provides agribusiness clients with a gap analysis that benchmarks their operations against “best-in-class” for similar industries or scale. We identify areas of improvement as well as opportunities. Marsh then recommends solutions and assists in implementing them.

Supply chain — In both domestic and export markets, long supply chains can potentially expose producers and processors to additional risks. Marsh can help determine where in the supply chain your risk attaches and ends, who is responsible for damage while goods are being stored, moved, and processed; and, if foreign bodies are found, who is responsible for removal or recall. Various products are available to provide indemnity for liability at each and every stage in the supply chain, depending on your specific exposures.

Cyber — The reliance and growth in computer-aided irrigation can expose the modern agribusiness to a new set of perils beyond traditional weather and fire risks. A failure or error in the delivery of required inputs could damage yields. These additional property damage exposures need to be understood to ensure you are adequately protected by your insurance policy.  

With a team of experts who understand the exposures of Australia’s agribusinesses as well as the solutions and strategies for controlling risks, Marsh helps clients find the opportunity in risk.

This page contains general information, does not take into account your individual objectives, financial situation or needs. For full details of the terms, conditions and limitations of the covers, refer to the specific policy wordings and/or Product Disclosure Statements available from Marsh Pty Ltd on request. Marsh Pty Ltd (ABN 86 004 651 512, AFSL 238983) arranges the insurance and is not the insurer.