Beekeepers Insurance

 

Beekeepers Insurance  

Beekeepers need to consider insurance for personal injury, property damage, and circumstantial liability. In an article in the American Bee Journal, the author comments:

Insurance! The very word sends shivers down the readerís spine. Or if not shivers, at least annoyance at putting out so much money over so many years, and getting so little in return. But what does insurance have to do with beekeeping, you ask? Only thisóas a seller of honey, you are liable for injuries sustained by your customers. Moreover, as a keeper of bees, you incur negligent and non-negligent risk from several different directions. (Scott, 2002)

He goes on to suggest these areas of concern:

-           Customer injury, such as someone getting sick (or claiming to) from eating honey or other bee products, or someone injured by a piece of glass or other foreign object in the honey.

-          Property injury, such as a child playing around the hives, getting stung, and going into anaphylactic shock.

-          Circumstantial injury caused by the unforeseen results of some action the beekeeper takes. (Scott, 2002) The same author continues:

 

So you see, there may be a need for insurance, especially if you are a larger commercial beekeeper. The conventional wisdom is that if anything happens on my property, my homeownerís insurance will cover the liability. But that is incorrect. It depends on whether the beekeeping is a hobby or business and on the size of the claim. Moreover, it is an easy argument to make that any revenue generated is a business, not a hobby.... The decision is not an easy one. Every beekeeper must decide what level of risk he/ she is willing to tolerate. But every beekeeper should be aware that along with dead hives, varroa mites, poorly laying queens, and bad weather, he/she must also endure some exposure to liability. (Scott, 2002)

Beekeepers should check with their insurance companies to discuss their specific needs.

Different insurance companies have different concerns about the many aspects of beekeeping liability.

Bee and honey associations may be able to help their members with this type of protection. In the past, the American Beekeepers Federation provided a liability insurance program for its members.

 The Federations website states that Through the Federations master policy you can obtain liability insurance to protect your beekeeping operation in today litigious society (American Beekeeping Federation, 1999). Beekeepers should contact their associations to see whether this type of coverage is available (see Further Resources: Associations).