His Story

Ray Griffin spent many years walking fields as an insurance adjuster so he knows the importance of good risk management – and just how greatly the climate impacts crops.  As a farmer himself now, individually managing 300 acres of land that has been in his wife’s family for over 150 years, he’s experienced both the joys and challenges of the job first-hand in his own fields.

“Farming is an easy job.  I one-hundred percent disagree that it’s a hard job – if you enjoy what you’re doing, it’s not work.  And to me it’s a joy.  But as far as challenges, weather is #1 – as a farmer you depend strictly on the weather for growing crops.  The last two years have been very extreme, and I was delayed in planting with all the rain.  The rain and heat is just not typical of what I’ve experienced in the past.”

He purchased Total Weather Insurance (TWI) because it fit well with his approach of “taking the fear out of farming.”  For him, TWI alleviated a lot of the financial anxiety involved in being a grower and was a key addition to his marketing approach.  “I figured if The Climate Corporation was willing to risk it, I was willing to risk trying it.  It took a lot of the stress off me because I didn’t have to worry about the weather risks.”  Ray had also showed his policy to a friend who is a loan officer who was impressed with it since it showed sound risk management practices and was a way to take the uncertainty out of the weather.

The rain Ray experienced this spring prevented him from getting planted on time, but the payout he received for the early season rain component of his TWI policy “lessened the pain” and he was able to pay off some bills.

Having spent years in the crop insurance industry, Ray helps people in his community understand the importance of risk management for their operations and highly recommended TWI to his friends.   “Their only complaint was that they didn’t take my recommendation of covering more acres.”

“I am definitely buying TWI again next year and I’ll be happier if I don’t receive a settlement – I buy insurance for protection, not as a way to make money.”