Your home policy stops at the edge of the yard.
A farm is two things at once — a home and a business — and a homeowners policy only insures one of them. The barns, the equipment, the livestock, and the liability that comes with running an operation all fall outside it. Auto-Owners has protected farms and ranches for generations, and its farm & ranch package puts the house and the whole operation on one policy — scaling from a few acres and a couple of animals to a full working operation. Here's what it covers and where a home policy leaves you exposed. Placed through an independent agency that represents Auto-Owners.
The short answer
Farm & ranch insurance is a package that blends home and business — covering the farm dwelling, the barns and outbuildings, your equipment, machinery, and livestock, and, most importantly, farm liability for the operation itself. A homeowners policy won't cover any of the farm side, which is the gap that catches people. Auto-Owners is a longtime farm carrier, the policy scales from a hobby farm to a full operation, and it's backed by an A+ (Superior) rating — placed only through an independent agent like Cribb.
The house and the whole operation.
A farm policy is built in parts so it can be shaped to your operation — from the residence to the last implement in the shed.
Farm dwelling
Covers your home, household contents, and loss of use — plus additional dwellings like employee or rental housing on the property. The homeowners-style core of the package.
Outbuildings
Barns, machine sheds, grain bins, silos, stables, fences, corrals, and irrigation. Often listed and scheduled, with replacement cost available on qualifying buildings.
Equipment & machinery
Tractors, combines, implements, and irrigation systems — insured on a blanket basis or scheduled item by item, with replacement cost available on qualifying machinery.
Livestock
Cattle, horses, and other animals covered against listed perils, with animal mortality available for higher-value livestock such as equine. Written to fit the size of your herd.
Farm liability
Liability for injuries and damage arising from the operation — a visitor hurt on the farm, custom work you do for others, or care of non-owned livestock. Broader and different from personal liability.
Farm auto & more
Trucks and vehicles used in the operation, equipment breakdown, loss of income, and peak-season storage of harvested crops can be added to round the package out.
A homeowners policy won't cover the farm.
Barns, equipment, livestock, and the liability of running an operation all sit outside a homeowners policy. Even a few animals or selling hay or eggs can create exposure it was never meant to carry.
The moment land becomes an operation, the coverage has to change.
A homeowners policy is written for a residence. The instant your property takes on farming — animals, equipment, outbuildings, or any product sold — you've created exposures it excludes, and in some cases the farming activity can even jeopardize the homeowners policy itself. A barn fire, a tractor rollover, an injured visitor around the livestock, damage from custom work you did for a neighbor — these are farm claims, and a home policy is built to deny them.
A farm & ranch package closes that gap by insuring the home and the operation on one policy, so a loss doesn't fall into the crack between personal and business coverage. It's the difference between assuming you're covered and actually being covered — which, on a working property, is a difference measured in barns and equipment.
Three things to get right on a farm policy.
First, list the buildings and equipment at real values — an underinsured barn or an unscheduled tractor is a claim-time shock. Second, carry farm liability for the operation you actually run, including any custom work or products you sell, and consider an umbrella over it. Third, tell us everything about the operation — the animals, the acreage, the side income — so nothing sits uncovered by omission.
One package that grows with the operation.
Auto-Owners has insured farms and ranches for generations. The package fits a hobby farm with a couple of horses just as well as it fits a working cattle or row-crop operation — you carry what you need and add as you grow.
Built for the operation you have, not a one-size box.
Farms in Northwest Arkansas run the full range — a family with acreage and a few animals, a poultry grower, a cattle operation, someone raising hay and doing a little custom work on the side. A farm policy is modular, so it's shaped to yours: light on structures and liability for a hobby farm, deep on equipment, livestock, and business coverage for a full operation.
As the operation changes — more animals, a new building, equipment added, a product line started — the policy changes with it. Having one agency that knows the whole operation is what keeps the coverage matched to reality instead of frozen at whatever it was the day you bought it. That's the review we do with farm clients every renewal.
What a farm policy won't cover.
A farm package is broad, but a couple of exposures need coverage of their own.
Growing crops
Traditional crop insurance against drought, hail, or a failed harvest is a separate product, largely through the federal crop program — not part of a farm package. Harvested crops in storage can be covered as property.
Flood & earthquake
Rising water and earth movement are excluded, as on any property policy, and need their own coverage — worth considering for low-lying ground or buildings near water.
Large-scale agribusiness
A large commercial operation may outgrow the package and need commercial auto, general liability, or workers' compensation. We place those too, so the whole operation stays covered as it scales up.
Backed by an A+ (Superior) carrier.
AM Best rates the members of Auto-Owners Insurance Group — the companies behind your Arkansas farm & ranch policy — with a Financial Strength Rating of A+ (Superior) and a Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "aa" (Superior), stable outlook, per its rating action dated October 31, 2024. A+ (Superior) is the second-highest of AM Best's rating levels and sits in its top "Superior" category. A financial strength rating is an opinion about an insurer's ability to pay claims — its solvency — not a grade of how a specific claim is handled, and not a recommendation. The current rating is at ambest.com.
Where we earn it on a farm.
The quiet farm mistakes are a homeowners policy left on a working property, buildings and equipment insured for too little, no farm liability for the operation, and livestock or side income the policy never knew about. We walk the operation with you, value the structures and equipment honestly, set the liability to what you actually do, and add an umbrella where it fits. We don't adjust your claim and can't overrule an adjuster — but we make sure the policy matches the operation, and we'll compare Auto-Owners, a longtime farm carrier, against our other markets.
Priced to the operation, not a sticker.
Farm & ranch premiums span too wide a range for a single meaningful figure — a few acres with a couple of horses and a full working cattle or row-crop operation aren't in the same universe. Price turns on the dwelling and buildings, the equipment and its value, the livestock, the acreage, the liability you carry, and the kind of operation you run. That's why we price it to the operation rather than post a number. This isn't a quote or a guarantee. Tell us what you've got and we'll build the real figure with you, Auto-Owners against our other farm markets.
The rest of what's on the place.
Auto-Owners farm & ranch questions.
Will my homeowners policy cover my farm or acreage?
No — and this is the gap that catches people. A homeowners policy is written for a residence and its household contents. It excludes farming exposures: the barns and outbuildings, the tractors and implements, the livestock, the hay and feed, and — most importantly — the liability that comes from running an operation.
Even modest activity, like keeping a few animals, boarding a horse, or selling eggs, produce, or hay, can fall outside a homeowners policy and, in some cases, jeopardize the policy itself. A farm and ranch (farmowners) policy is built to cover both the home and the operation together, so nothing falls in the gap between personal and business coverage.
What does farm & ranch insurance cover?
A farm and ranch policy is a package that blends homeowners-type coverage with farm business coverage. On the property side it covers the farm dwelling and household contents, additional dwellings such as employee or rental housing, barns and outbuildings like machine sheds and grain bins, farm personal property including equipment, machinery, tools, hay, and feed, and livestock. On the liability side it covers farm liability for injuries and damage arising from the operation.
Coverages are flexible — livestock and equipment can be written on a blanket or scheduled basis, replacement cost is available on qualifying buildings and machinery, and options like equipment breakdown or loss of income can be added. We build the policy around your specific operation.
I only have a hobby farm or a few animals — do I really need it?
Very likely yes. The mistake is assuming a homeowners policy stretches to cover small-scale farming, when in fact even a hobby farm creates exposures it wasn't designed for. If a visitor is injured by your animals, if a barn or your equipment is damaged, or if you sell any farm products, a homeowners policy can leave you paying out of pocket — or dispute the claim entirely.
A farm and ranch policy scales down to fit a few acres and a handful of animals just as well as it scales up to a full operation, and for a hobby farm it's often surprisingly affordable. It's worth a quick conversation to size it right rather than assume you're covered.
Does it cover my equipment and livestock?
Yes. Farm machinery and equipment — tractors, combines, implements, irrigation systems — can be insured on a blanket basis or scheduled item by item, and replacement cost coverage is available on qualifying equipment. Livestock can likewise be covered on a blanket or scheduled basis, with protection against covered perils and, for higher-value animals such as horses, animal mortality coverage.
How you structure it depends on the value and type of your equipment and herd, which is exactly what we work through when we build the policy. Coverage applies as written in the policy issued to you.
Does farm insurance cover my crops?
Generally not in the way people expect. Traditional crop insurance — protection against a failed or damaged growing crop from drought, hail, or other causes — is a separate product, largely delivered through the federal crop insurance program, and is not part of a standard farm and ranch package.
What a farm policy can cover is harvested crops and their peak-season storage, such as grain in a bin or hay in a barn, as farm personal property. If crop insurance is something you need, we can point you in the right direction; for everything around it — the buildings, equipment, livestock, and liability — the farm policy is the tool.
How do I get an Auto-Owners farm & ranch quote in Northwest Arkansas?
Start at our personal lines quote form or call (479) 286-1066. The more you can tell us about the operation, the better we can build it: the acreage, the home and any additional dwellings, the barns and outbuildings, the equipment and its value, the livestock you keep, and whether you sell products or do any custom work for others.
We'll size the property, liability, and optional coverages to the operation you actually run, and quote Auto-Owners — a longtime farm and ranch carrier — against our other markets. Because Auto-Owners only sells through independent agents, an agency like ours is the only way to buy it.
If our coverage explainers are useful, mark Cribb Insurance as a preferred source so more Northwest Arkansas farm and ranch owners can find our local, plain-English guides.
Insure the whole place — house, barns, and all.
Tell us about the operation — the acreage, the buildings, the equipment, the animals — and we'll build a farm & ranch policy sized to it, closing the gap a homeowners policy leaves wide open. If Auto-Owners is the right fit, we'll place it. If another of our farm markets fits better, we'll tell you that too.
Cribb Insurance Group Inc. is an independent insurance agency licensed in Arkansas. We are not Auto-Owners, and this page is not endorsed, sponsored, reviewed, or approved by Auto-Owners. "Auto-Owners" and "Auto-Owners Insurance" are service marks or trademarks of Auto-Owners Insurance Company and its affiliates, used here nominatively to identify products we are appointed to place. Auto-Owners' Arkansas farm & ranch policies are issued by Auto-Owners-affiliated underwriting companies.
This page describes farm & ranch (farmowners) coverage in general, industry-standard terms for informational purposes only. It is not a policy, not an offer of insurance, and not a guarantee of coverage, availability, eligibility, or price. Farm dwelling and additional dwellings, household and farm personal property, outbuildings and farm structures, equipment and machinery, livestock, farm liability, farm auto, and optional coverages such as equipment breakdown and loss of income — along with blanket versus scheduled coverage, replacement-cost and actual-cash-value valuation, limits, deductibles, endorsements, and exclusions — are set by the carrier, vary by state and by policy and over time, are subject to the carrier's underwriting approval and eligibility, and apply only as written in the policy actually issued to you. A homeowners policy generally excludes farming and ranching exposures; whether particular property or activity is covered depends on the policy issued. Traditional crop insurance for growing crops is a separate product, largely delivered through the federal crop insurance program, and is not provided by a standard farm & ranch package. Flood and earthquake are excluded and require separate coverage. Larger or commercial operations may require separate commercial policies.
Financial strength ratings are opinions of an insurer's ability to meet its ongoing insurance obligations, are subject to change, are not recommendations to purchase, hold or terminate any policy, and do not address an insurer's claims-handling practices; current ratings are at ambest.com. The A+ (Superior) rating referenced applies to the members of Auto-Owners Insurance Group. Any cost or coverage descriptions are general and illustrative, not a quote, and not a guarantee; your premium and coverage are determined at quote and by the policy issued.
Last reviewed July 2026.