His Story

The Spicer family moved into their 500 acre farm the day Timothy Spicer was born.  He was raised on the farm and also raised his own family on the land, so family is very important to Timothy.  “I spent 13 years in a city job, but left because it wasn’t the right lifestyle for me.  I was not able to spend enough time with the family.”  So he decided to come back to the farm and take the land over from his father.  Today he grows corn and beans and is also in the process of building a cattle operation.

Timothy’s father had so much in place when he returned that it made things easier for him. “I just kept doing what he was doing and we are doing pretty well.”  But Timothy also faces issues he can’t control, like the weather which causes uncertainty in yields.  Weather is more impactful because “the soil is sandy, so it doesn’t hold water well.  That makes drought and heat an extra challenge.”

Total Weather Insurance (TWI) made sense to Timothy when his crop insurance agent brought it up to him.  He knew he had risk, and compared buying a TWI policy to increasing the percentage he was covered by federal crop insurance.  “As it turned out, it was more cost effective to take out a TWI policy to cover the extra risk rather than increase federal coverage.”

And trying something new “worked out really well.  We had a slight delay in planting with early rain, but then were really hit with heat stress, and the component paid out. It worked great.”  Timothy was also very happy with the quick turnaround of the payment.  “With most insurance, they say they will mail the check in 10 days and they aren’t even close.  But with The Climate Corporation, if they say they are going to do something, they do it.”