His Story

David Myerholtz is the third generation in his family to farm.  He and his dad Lowell operate 1,800 acres of land and grow corn, soybeans and wheat, sharing labor, equipment and decisions related to risk management and overall business operation practices.

As with just about every farmer, David’s biggest concern is the weather because it’s something he cannot control, especially at planting and emergence time when too much or too little rain can impact the quality of the crop and overall yield.  

After reading some news stories and seeing advertisements for Total Weather Insurance (TWI), David brought the idea of purchasing policy to the table to maximize the farm’s crop insurance coverage.  He liked the fact that they could buy a policy in their specific geographic area and for their particular crops to minimize their risk profile, and track the policy each day to monitor the status.  

“This is our first year having TWI which allows us to protect against multiple weather events – that’s what got me intrigued originally, but what’s great about TWI is they let you dabble.  You don’t have to cover all acres at once.”

The more David learned about the product, the more he tweaked it to suit his farm’s unique situation.  David was able to decide how many acres he wanted to cover and change the parameters as he saw fit.  What he really appreciates is that TWI respects the experience of the farmer to know what weather events they are vulnerable to.  And, because he had purchased Early Spring Rain coverage, David was paid promptly and without a visit from a claims adjuster following this past spring’s historic rainfall.  Even though he won’t know the extent of the damage due to the excessive spring rain until the end of the season, their crops did experience planting delays and some damage.   

“I knew Early Season Rain was one of the components I selected, but I had no idea the policy would end up paying that much.”

David also works part-time in finance and said he talks all winter long to farmers about TWI, which he sees as a component of risk management that is unlike any other kind of insurance.