His Story

Chris Riddle farms 1,100 acres of mainly corn and soybeans.  For a short period of time, he worked at the Post Office but the job didn’t suit him.  After 30 years of farming, he hasn’t looked back.  Farming allows Chris to be his own boss and he says “I can make more money on my own.”

Recently, extremely wet springs have been stressful for Chris because he’s been unable to hit his yields.  Chris comments on planting, “We just don’t have the opportunity to get in the ground in a timely fashion, which makes us worried that we aren’t going to get yields.”  Over the years, Chris has had bad luck with Mother Nature.  “I don’t remember having these back to back streaks we’ve been having.”

Chris first heard about Total Weather Insurance (TWI) three years ago from his agent.  Chris says the reason why he likes TWI so much is the ability to customize his policy and the protection it provides against Mother Nature.  He says he firmly believes that the climate and your ability to farm determine your yield and now that he has TWI, he has control over both.  On purchasing TWI, Chris says, “I thought it was a no brainer.  TWI guarantees that I’m going to get my crop planted timely – if I don’t, I get paid which helps pick up on late planting.  TWI guarantees it’s not going to get hot or else I also get paid.”  He continues, “The way TWI is structured, I’m pretty much guaranteed that I’m going to have a nice crop.”

“Mother Nature is still the boss.  No matter what, Mother Nature is going to rule. TWI takes care of Mother Nature trying to take advantage of me.”

“I had good crops that gave me the money to pay the premiums.  You’re going to win one way or another with TWI.  It’s the same as life insurance – as long as you’re paying for your life insurance, you’re still alive.  If you don’t collect, it means you won.” 

Chris says that he checked his policy every day from temperatures to rainfall and is pleased how well it matched up to data he collected at home.  He also was pleased at how smooth the payment process was. “The check was here within a week!”

This year, Chris says that federal crop insurance did not protect him. “I paid them $60,000 and didn’t get anything. It’s a pretty rough year when you get only 70-75% of your guarantee.” 

“TWI guarantees you a profit if you farm right.  If you consider yourself an above average farmer, you can guarantee yourself a profit with TWI.”