Advice: Insuring precision tech

There is no doubt precision guidance technology used in modern farm machinery is robustly made. But, when exposed to dust, heat and humidity 365 days a year, equipment can stop functioning.

And, when it does, that downtime during busy periods such as harvest or sowing, can blow out to become a major cost.

Speaking at a precision ag field day in southern NSW earlier this year, Trimble Global Services Oceania regional sales manager, Gavin McDonald, said growers need to look at protection plans to manage the technology risk on farms.

These plans cover equipment in harsh environmental conditions, including salt, extreme temperatures and electrical surges.

“Weather, water and drought can’t be controlled, but we can control the down time on machinery,” McDonald said.

“It can cost thousands of dollars a day if equipment goes down, especially if that technology is linked to multiple machines.”

Pick the right plan

When selecting protection plans, McDonald suggested growers insure their older hardware systems with a plan such as Trimble’s Protected Plus Reinstatement plan.

On new equipment, he said growers should seek a rapid replace plan to allow for the quick exchange of non-functioning products.

A grower can also have componentry protected through bundled or system coverage.

McDonald said coverage is available in one-year increments and up to five years for technological hardware.

“If a monitor covered by a protection plan doesn’t work, the codes are transferred to the new monitor automatically and without any extra cost.”

However, farm data on the physical hardware is not covered by the plans, he added.

When looking at protection plans, growers need to consider those backed by the manufacturer, turn-around times and the excess.

They will need to provide serial numbers for equipment and information on the machine’s use.

Evaluate frequently

McDonald suggested growers audit or evaluate their precision guidance hardware annually.

“They need to ask themselves how old is the technology, if it is still required or do they need to upgrade,” he said.

“At the end of the day it is about making the farm more profitable. There are so many hidden costs over the 12 months on farms, growers need to mitigate that risk along the way."

He said if a machine goes down, even for just a week, there are big costs involved.

“A week at harvest time does matter – we are all profit driven now so we have to look at managing our equipment better to avert risk,” he said.

“Growers are good at servicing their machinery but the technology has become so robust, people aren’t aware of how much it can cost them if it fails."