What Growers Need to Know About Greenhouse Insurance Renewals
October 11, 2025 As the holiday season approaches, greenhouse operators are managing production deadlines, workforce planning, and sales goals. In the midst of it all, one critical task often slips down the list: reviewing and renewing your business insurance.
If you wait until year-end, you may miss the opportunity to adjust your coverage, ask critical questions, or fully prepare for 2026. Insurance renewals don’t have to be rushed — or stressful.
Industry best practice recommends starting the renewal process at least 90 days before your policy is up for renewal. That gives you and your insurance provider time to assess changes, update coverage, and avoid surprises. Starting early gives you control — ensuring your insurance reflects your operations today and the risks ahead.
Here are five common insurance renewal questions greenhouse owners should be asking — and how the answers can help you renew business insurance with greater clarity and confidence.
1. Has Anything Changed in Your Business That Might Affect Your Insurance?
Greenhouse operations evolve all the time. Whether you’ve added a new structure, automated part of your process, shifted product lines, or adjusted delivery services, these changes can affect your risk exposure. If your insurer isn’t aware of what’s changed, your coverage may no longer align with your needs.
Real-world example: One greenhouse owner recently installed an automated transplanting line. It improved efficiency — but it also introduced new risks, including potential equipment failure and worker injury. Because the change came up during the renewal conversation, we were able to adjust coverage before an incident occurred.
What to do:
- Walk through your business as if you’re onboarding a new team member. What’s new?
- Share updates you’ve made to buildings, equipment, staffing, or product categories.
- Tell your insurer if you’ve added services like delivery, landscaping, or consulting.
2. Are You Protected Against Today’s Top Risks?
Property and liability insurance are essential — but they don’t cover everything. Many greenhouse businesses are exposed to risks that weren’t on the radar even a few years ago. Today’s top threats include:
- Cyberattacks: The FBI reports that U.S. businesses lost more than $12.5 billion to cybercrime in 2023, with many small and mid-sized companies affected. If you store customer data, make electronic payments, or use connected equipment, you could be vulnerable. Cyber liability insurance can help cover losses related to legal defense, breach notifications, crisis response, and credit monitoring.
- Severe weather: NOAA data shows billion-dollar weather disasters have more than doubled since the 1980s. For greenhouses, events like wind and hail continue to pose serious threats.
What to do:
- Ask your insurer to assess your current exposures and compare them to your coverage — especially for cyber, recall, and property risks.
- Consider additional protection through policies like cyber liability, product recall, or business interruption insurance.
- Revisit your disaster recovery plan and confirm it coincides with your insurance program.
3. Could Your Current Coverage Fall Short If Something Goes Wrong?
Underinsurance is one of the most common — and costly — gaps we see. With rising inflation, higher labor costs, and more expensive litigation, the coverage that worked last year may not be enough this year.
- Construction costs: According to the National Association of Home Builders, prices for building materials rose nearly 36% from 2020 to 2023 — affecting the cost to rebuild greenhouses, warehouses, and office space.
- Labor: Bringing in skilled tradespeople for repairs or replacements now costs significantly more than it did just a few years ago, according to RedHammer.
- Legal claims: According to the Maryland Injury Law Center, the average jury award in premises liability cases has climbed into the millions, making higher liability limits essential.
Real-world example: After a storm damaged a grower’s main greenhouse, the repair costs exceeded their policy limits by nearly $500,000. Material inflation, labor costs, and delays hadn’t been factored into their renewal. That shortfall came out of pocket.
What to do:
- Review your property values annually based on current market and replacement costs.
- Talk to your insurer about inflation guard endorsements — these can help coverage keep pace with rising costs.
- Reevaluate your liability limits based on your customer base, operations, and current legal trends.
- Consider potential liability tied to employment practices — like discrimination, wrongful termination, or workplace harassment.
4. Are There Coverages You Haven’t Considered — but Should?
Most greenhouse owners focus on the basics, like property and general liability. But additional coverage could make all the difference if your business faces an unexpected disruption. Other available coverage options include:
- Equipment breakdown: Covers the sudden failure of systems like boilers, compressors, and automation equipment. Even short downtimes can lead to lost crops — and lost revenue.
- Pollution liability: Helps protect against damages for your business if pesticide drift, fertilizer runoff, or chemical spills lead to claims.
- Commercial auto: If your business owns or operates delivery vehicles, this coverage helps protect against losses in the event of an accident.
- Crop insurance: Especially important for growers with high-value or specialty crops, this coverage helps offset weather-related losses.
- Parametric insurance: In areas where wind and hail are common, you may want to explore parametric insurance, which offers a pre-set payout for a specific weather event at a defined threshold without the need for loss documentation.
- Umbrella insurance: Adds extra liability protection beyond the limits of your existing policies.
Real-world example: A grower lost $250,000 in product after a sudden and accidental breakdown of their climate-control system. Because they had equipment breakdown coverage in place, the loss was eligible for coverage. Without it, the financial impact could have been severe.
What to do:
- Walk through “what-if” scenarios with your insurer. What would happen if the power went out during peak production — or a spray application drifted onto a neighbor’s property?
- Weigh the cost of coverage against your tolerance for risk. Skipping a policy might save money in the short term — but it could cost far more if something goes wrong.
5. How Can Renewal Help Improve Your Risk Management Program — and Not Just Your Policy?
Renewal isn’t just a paperwork deadline. It’s a chance to learn from what’s happened in the past, improve safety programs, and work with your insurer to reduce risks — or share more of them through strategies like higher deductibles.
Many insurers offer services beyond coverage that can directly support your business, such as:
- Industry-specific safety programs.
- Loss control support, including site visits and employee training.
- Claims analysis to identify trends and recommend improvements.
Real-world example: During renewal, we worked with a grower to review three years of claims. Most injuries were happening during seasonal onboarding. By adding targeted training at the start of each season, they cut incidents in half — and qualified for lower workers’ compensation premiums the following year.
What to do:
- Ask your insurer what claims data or industry benchmarks they can share with you.
- Take advantage of training or safety assessments — many are included at no extra cost.
- Set measurable goals tied to areas like reducing workplace injuries or equipment failures.
Use Renewal as a Business Advantage
Insurance renewal isn’t just about keeping your policy in place. Done right, it’s a tool to help protect your assets, improve operations, and build a more resilient business. And, understanding the process of renewals is important.
Start 2026 with the confidence that your insurance program reflects where your business is now — and where it’s going.
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