Important CDL, insurance, and safety information

Narrator: The Ag View Pitch is created by Ag View Solutions to provide value to its clients and farmers like you. We'd like to welcome our new listeners today and encourage you to check out our other podcast on The Ag View Pitch, which can be found on Apple Podcasts, Anchor, and Podbean. You can also find us on Facebook at Ag View Solutions and online at agviewsolutions.com. Enjoy.

Shay

Foulk: Welcome back everyone to the Ag View Pitch. My name is Shay Foulk and I'm joined today by Nicole Gentz. How are you today, Nicole?

Nicole

Gentz: I'm good, Shea, and how are you?

Shay

Foulk: Well, it's a little windy here. I know it probably is over there in Iowa too. I saw there's some wind alerts for 40 or 50 miles, so hopefully most of the corn is out in your area, right?

Nicole

Gentz: And we're supposed to get Well, you know how the news is, anywhere from 4 to 12 inches of snow tonight. So I guess we will see what happens.

Shay

Foulk: Well, hope the snowplows are hooked up and ready to go, but, uh, right, right.

Nicole

Gentz: We're gonna have to start making our combines to have snowplows on them.

Shay

Foulk: Uh, let's not hope for that. But anyways, uh, glad you could join me here today, and I was wondering if you could tell the listeners a little bit about what you do and a little bit about your background in agriculture.

Nicole

Gentz: Right, so I guess I can kind of start at the beginning in regards to how I got into the agricultural industry. Um, from day one, I was born and raised on a diversified crop and livestock farm in northeast Iowa. So we raised a lot of beef cattle. We had corn, soybeans, you know, your typical row crops for Iowa, and then also had hogs as well. So I got to dabble in a few different areas of the industry as well as a few, uh, chickens here or there for FFA projects, but for the most part, the beef cattle industry is kind of where I had my calling. I showed cattle my entire life. That was kind of my true passion growing up in addition to 4-H and FFA. So naturally, that course kind of took me to Iowa State. Ironically enough, it wasn't to study agribusiness at first, as you're aware, Shay.

Did change my major quite a few times, but it was when I got to my sophomore year, I kind of just took a step back and said, you know, where does my true passion lie? What makes me happy? And it, it always went back to where my roots were in the agribusiness industry. So I went to Iowa State for agricultural business, and when I was studying that, I had the opportunity to intern in the insurance industry in regards to to agriculture, and I honestly had no idea that that even existed as an area of career choice, I guess. And so I dabbled a little bit in risk management there, and then that's kind of where my career really kicked off. So right now I am a client safety advocate for Cottingham Butler, which is an insurance brokerage based out of Dubuque, Iowa. We right now place insurance for about 1 out of every 5 semi-trucks on the road, so we're pretty big on the transportation sector.

However, they reached out to me initially to come to Cottingham and Butler to help kind of establish a food and agribusiness vertical. So we have a pretty good business of food and agribusiness type clientele right now on the commercial side, just obviously because of where we're located. It's in our backyard, right? So we wanted to kind of get a dedicated focus and a vertical in order to help better serve our clients. And so from a safety perspective, as that's my background, I guess I kind of missed that hurdle. But prior to coming to Cottingham Butler, I worked for Nationwide Insurance in the agribusiness division as a risk management consultant. So I primarily worked with Grain elevators, co-ops, implement dealers, feed mills, fertilizer, you name it, I worked with it if it was traditional agriculture.

And I basically helped those clients kind of look at their business from a holistic approach in regards to where their exposures lie from an insurance standpoint and basically how we can kind of mitigate those exposures to help make them both safer operations and also more efficient operations as well. So basically with that experience, I use that on the safety focus of helping with our food and agribusiness vertical. And so essentially I help our clients take a look at their overall safety programs and kind of develop where our plan of attack should be in regards to safety and risk management. From that safety perspective. And then I also help kind of coordinate and orchestrate the different logistics in regards to safety services and accountability plans and things along those lines. So I guess that's kind of a high-level approach.

Shay

Foulk: Right. No, and that, that's phenomenal. And that's specifically why I wanted to, you know, talk to you and share this perspective with our listeners. You know, you and I were talking offline here you have a very unique perspective because not only did you grow up in agriculture but moved into an area with the risk management and the insurance that not a lot of farmers or producers out there, uh, have that in-depth background. So I thought it would be interesting today to, you know, pick out a few points of, you know, how that has looked as you transition in your career and maybe some areas that you think that farmers could be doing better, or, you know, developing the relationships with your insurers to make sure that you're getting the best protection for your farm and that you're having the good relationship there.

So I was wondering if we could maybe, you know, jump into it from, from the perspective of the commercial providers or the larger scale that you're working with now. How do the operations that you work with today look at risk management and safety a little bit differently than farmer operations do, and how do you think the farmers could maybe improve in that area?

Nicole

Gentz: Right, so they are a little different, obviously, because it's a commercial operation versus a farm operation. So from a general safety standpoint, there's areas where farmers would be, quote, exempt from OSHA-type scenarios. So there is that difference from a regulatory compliance standpoint. Which obviously would be kind of our most obvious point of difference. But I think they're really kind of the same in the way that safety from a risk management perspective hasn't necessarily been at the forefront of people's minds in the agricultural industry. I believe that it's been more of a We've been doing this for 50 years and it works and we know how to run this operation standpoint. And it's as though the new regulations and safety pushes are really kind of new and upcoming. So there really kind of is a cultural shift.

And I think that farmers and commercial operations are kind of similar in that way, just purely because of the fact that it is a cultural shift to help bring that safety focus up to the same equal value as production per se. So from a farmer's perspective, I guess what I would say from a high-level point of guidance would be to take a step back and understand that yes, you are a farm, but at the same point you're still a business, right? So how can we look at our operation from that commercial standpoint to help find those areas where we might be deficient or find those areas where we may want to help improve to go forward. You know, OSHA regulations, contrary to popular belief, are the bare minimum that you should be doing in order to help keep employees safe.

And so we want to— we really want to take that step of what can we be doing above and beyond to make sure that we're operating in an efficient manner and that our employees are operating safely. And so I think looking at their overall operation from a commercial perspective or a business perspective is one way to kind of think about it in that light and to understand where your exposures really lie.

Shay

Foulk: And I know that's, that's a great point. And I think there's two things I wanted to hit on there. The first one is that, you know, in agriculture, we often accept the safety obstacles that we encounter as just an inherent risk of farming. And we think, well, that's just, you know, we've done it this way for 50 or 100 years, like you said, and we just think, oh, that's agriculture. Well, agriculture is one of the most dangerous occupations in the world, and there's a reason for that is we don't have that mindset. And how I like to talk about this with clients and producers that we work with is you need to really change the culture in agriculture. So I'm really, I'm really happy that you brought it up from that perspective.

Now, another thing that I want to hit on there quickly is with the OSHA, you talked a little bit about the differences in commercial operations versus farm operations. Are you strictly talking about the number of employees and being 10 or more employees, or what perspective are you talking about?

Nicole

Gentz: So that perspective specifically where there is that employee account that would hold exemptions, but then there are, there are also some agricultural exemptions dabbled here and there. So I guess my recommendation from that standpoint is stop looking for the exemption as your way out of it and instead look towards it as a guidance of how can I be doing something better to make sure that I'm doing this safe, right? You touched on it again that It's in all realist— in all realist— oh goodness gracious, in all reality, we are complacent, right? Because we're so comfortable on the farm and with the equipment that we're working with that you're 100% right that everybody just assumes it's inherent, an inherent risk as part of the operation. And I mean, I know firsthand, right? I cut my fingers off when I was 2 via TMR, feeding cows.

So I joke with my dad right now that he was really just setting me up for a career in safety. But a little humor to the situation. But I feel like that also helps me speak with some credibility when I'm talking with clients, just because of the fact that, you know, I'm still a part of that everyday operation, but it can happen to anyone at any moment in any time.

Shay

Foulk: Absolutely. Now, one other thing that I wanted to bring up too, as you mentioned, taking your farm operation and looking at it from a business standpoint. So what are, what are maybe 2 or 3 specific things that you think farmers maybe don't consider or feel as though it's a business standpoint that they could be focusing on moving into the year ahead?

Nicole

Gentz: From safety specific or from a general risk management standpoint? Management exposure type?

Shay

Foulk: Yeah, either safety or risk management.

Nicole

Gentz: Okay. I think a big thing is, again, just getting that culture shift in regards to safety. And many people think that culture takes a long time to adjust or fix, to go from a culture that's complacent to a culture that's really focused and has safety in the forefront. So in my opinion, I guess taking a step back and thinking, is what I'm doing, I'm doing because I've done it forever, or is what I'm doing the right way because it's actually safe? And just kind of thinking about what you're doing from a daily standpoint and how that could go potentially wrong. On the flip side, preventative maintenance is huge when it comes to safety. And I try to talk with some of our clients about, you know, putting data to dollars to help them understand why this is so important.

But eventually you're going to be paying for these costs, whether you're paying for it upfront in preventative maintenance, upkeep, general safety things along those lines, or through work comp claims, or through having to purchase new equipment, or having property claims due to a fire because of electrical from a lack of maintenance. Paying attention, and I know it's really hard, especially on the farm side of thing with the way that markets are, and it's not really where you want to be putting your first dollars in most cases, but It is important to be setting aside that level of detail towards overall maintenance and in buildings and equipment specific and making sure that if a guard falls off that we're replacing it and not just running by the seat of our pants.

Or if we have an extension cord that's ripped in half, instead of just taping it back up, how about we just replace the extension cord? You know, and or if We have an auger on a bin that we don't have the guards for anymore, um, to find those guards or replace something to put it on. Because like I said, it can happen at any time to anyone when you least expect it.

So just having that attention to detail and taking that step back from your normal daily life of not even noticing those things anymore because because you are so ingrained in them every day, but just taking that step back and maybe doing a walkthrough of your farm once every other week just to say, okay, I'm going to specifically look for missing guards, or I'm going to specifically look for any electrical conduit that might be broken or need to be attended to, or any welding tanks, my oxygen or my acetylene, if I have them too close close or things along those lines. Just kind of taking that step back to refocus and bring that to the forefront.

Shay

Foulk: Yeah, and I'll touch on that preventative maintenance real quick. So one line item that you didn't mention, and a lot of people don't consider with those fixes, is the time opportunity cost. So for instance, within your operation, uh, if you're the primary operator as a combine driver, you might be worth $30 an hour, but if you're a businessman and you need to be making the financial decisions or you're looking at your grain marketing, you might actually be worth $1,000 an hour. And so when it comes to that grain operation, if you didn't take the time to replace a bearing or to get the, um, stalk choppers replaced or whatever it is that you know that you need to do on that preventative maintenance, it's costing you so much more in the long run. Right. So I'm really glad you brought that up.

And then another thing too, when you talked about doing that farm walkthrough, any farm operation out there knows that you can never get to the bottom of your to-do list.

Nicole

Gentz: Right.

Shay

Foulk: And I, you know, that's not what we're asking producers to do. What we want you to do is do that walkthrough, go and check things out on your farm, and then make a prioritization. Say, okay, this is the most risk inherent thing on the farm that I need to fix. Maybe it is that auger guard, maybe it's an exposed line. Whatever it may be, but just taking the time to, to do that so that you're aware of it. And if you yourself can't do it, have someone else take the steps to get that complete. That task delegation is crucial to the safety operation because it's not just one person that can change that culture. You have to instill that in everyone on the farm.

Nicole

Gentz: Right. And I'm really glad that you said that because of the fact that, I mean, I, I tell our clients on a daily basis, the job of your safety director is not to preach to everyone what the safety requirements are, because if that person is solely focusing on that, they're going to be constantly spinning 17 plates trying to get people to buy in and trying to manage the process, and then also trying to make sure that everything's done from a regulatory perspective. And when you can help get that buy-in and push that culture towards everyone else, that essentially turns that safety director's job instead into managing just the process from a high level and making sure that things are being done in an effective way. So you're 100% right. The point of the, a potential walkthrough is not to point out every area of flaw and opportunity.

That's not realistic, but to bring it to everyone's forefront and keep it in the front of their mind that we're taking a serious approach to making sure that we are safe and that things are done in an appropriate manner. That alone can help with just pushing that culture to the next step.

Shay

Foulk: And something else I wanted to point out here too is for everybody that's listening, we're not, we're not painting rainbows and saying everything's sunny and happy. I mean, these are, these are difficult things to do. And not, not even, not even just in a large-scale operation, but particularly when you work with family. And, you know, both you and I are familiar with that situation of sometimes it's tough to change the way that you've been doing things for a long time. And it shouldn't take an accident within the farm or an accident of a neighbor or a loved one to inspire this sort of change, because then it is that out of the blue.

And, you know, you think you're working to try and get everybody bought in, and for good reason, but take the steps to, you know, protect yourself, protect your farm, and protect your family now, even if it's difficult and even if you're met with resistance.

Nicole

Gentz: And that almost makes it kind of a cyclical and very reactive approach too. I mean, unfortunately, that's how a lot of folks learn is by touching the stove. But we, we don't— that's not our goal. We would like to keep it proactive and try to mitigate it ahead of time just because of the fact that this industry is so dangerous that when accidents happen, it's life-altering accidents. It's not anything that is, oh, I just got a little cut today and I'm going to throw a few stitches in it. I mean, that happens a lot, but typically our major injuries that are happening consistently are the life-altering ones that can really, really affect us and potentially how we're feeling about the farm and those working on the farm and outsiders' thoughts of the farm too.

I mean, if you're not, if you're not having that focus on safety and an accident does happen with one of your employees, You know, that what kind of message does the outside have looking in? Is it because that they know that what they were doing is dangerous? And there's such a disconnect right now with the farming community and those outside of it that they only see the negative of what doesn't happen well or doesn't go right, or whether it's a grain bin suffocation or entrapment or an amputation or a loss of a limb, things like that. And so they— there is that disconnect. And when you have that proactive kind of approach, I'd like to think that it can help with that overall as well.

Shay

Foulk: No, that's a great point. One thing that I wanted to bring up too, and I mentioned this at the beginning, is looking at establishing a relationship with your insurance provider And historically, farmers have not necessarily been actively involved with their insurance coverage, right? They just want to make sure they're covered. Let's meet once or twice a year and I'm good with that. How do you, how do you establish that connection? And what have you seen from your experience in the industry that makes an effective communicator on those items?

Nicole

Gentz: So you are 100% correct. And we actually just went through this with my dad. We lost a building, from a tornado, and then it turned out that the valuations on the policy weren't accurate and, uh, things along those lines. And my dad was just kind of like, well, why, why isn't this covered? Because you, you pay for insurance and you expect it to cover things when there's a loss, right? That's the whole point of insurance. But the problem is, is if you're not actively working with your insurance provider or your agent to make sure that the coverages you are most concerned about are being done correctly, you're not gonna get that coverage that you're looking for because at the end of the day, anybody can get a cheaper price by slashing coverages.

So if your whole goal is, I need to get this as cheap as possible, you're probably not gonna end up with the types of coverages that you need and then that's gonna leave a bad taste in your mouth if and/or when there is a loss, that there's an issue with coverage. So I think it's very, very important. And it's kind of ironic too, because in the beginning of a policy, the policyholder has to sign it saying that they agree to everything that's in the policy. So you can't really use that as an excuse. Well, I didn't know or I didn't understand, but this is a whole way to help mitigate your exposures from a business standpoint. And so it's your job.

If you want to still be farming in 5 years or 10 years or 50 years down the road based off the type of issue that could happen, especially in the litigation type, I guess, world that we live in right now, you've got to sit down and have those conversations with your agent or your producer and say, you know, maybe I don't understand this, or maybe I'm looking for some additional information on what this means, or this is what I want to have covered, are you sure that this is going to effectively mitigate that if I have a loss? If I lose my biggest building, let's say I have a cattle production facility, if I lose my biggest building, is this going to give me the same type of building back? Is this going to cover any of the loss of income that I have because I also lost those cattle?

Or if it takes 12 months to rebuild another building, am I going to lose the contracts that I had in place with cattle coming in? So you, you need to really kind of take that responsibility and think about what keeps you up at night. Is it keeping your farm running? Is it a specific exposure that maybe If this happens or we lose this via tornado, how are we going to come back from that? And that's really what we want to be insuring and what we want. You can insure everything for the rest of your life and over-insure. That's not the goal, right? And I understand, especially in this market with prices being so low, that we have to take a look at price too. So having that conversation about what your biggest fear is, what your biggest concern is, and how you can insure that in a cost effective and cost-efficient manner.

Those are really the types of conversations that we want to be having with our agents and producers.

Shay

Foulk: So what, I mean, what would that look like? Is that meeting with your agent more? Is that just making sure you have the right agent and the right connection? You know, how does that look?

Nicole

Gentz: I think it's, it's, it's a little bit different, right? And I think what people don't understand too is that there's multiple different insurance carriers like your Nationwides or your Farm Bureaus or your Grinnell Mutuals that will insure these type of operations, but each carrier has their own different form. Sorry to go off on a little bit of a tangent, but each carrier has their own different form. So these forms, you may think that you have the same type of coverage if you're with Nationwide and you move to Grinnell Mutual, but maybe you don't have the same coverage because Grinnell Mutual's forms are written a little different way, so something is excluded included here that maybe wasn't excluded at Nationwide, or vice versa.

So it may be if you have an agent that you've been working with for 40 years and you really trust them and you feel that they know your operation really well, maybe you only need to meet once a year when it comes to that renewal time, and you still need to be bringing up what areas of exposure make you lose sleep at night and what you want to make sure is covered. And it's hard too because you don't know what you don't know, right? And so just asking questions about how it works, or if I have a tornado, what is this process going to look like? But if you do have a new agent and you're not sure that maybe they don't necessarily understand what your farm overall entails or what the processes are, it's probably not going to work best in your favor to sign a policy once a year and then reconvene next year and what's my price, okay, let's sign it and move on.

You want to make sure that your building values are accurate. You want to make sure that your loss settlement options, whether it's replacement costs or actual cash value, are accurate for based off your needs. Again, you can over-insure everything, so it's good to have that good balance of what is necessary and what makes you feel comfortable. So I hate to use the D word, depends, but it, it really does kind of depend on what your current producer or agent, what their relationship is with you, how well they know your farm and how well they know you and where your thoughts and I guess where your fears are in regards to just your overall operations and keeping it running.

And if you can have those conversations with them and open up to ask those questions, I think you're really going to be able to understand if that agent is the right agent for you, because if they can't answer those questions for you, then that's probably not who you want building your policy for you, right? So again, I hate to use the word depends, but it's really going to depend on how well you know that agent or how well that agent knows you. And asking questions. Ask. That's the only way you're going to learn too, is just to ask questions.

Shay

Foulk: Yep. And I think I like what you said there with, you know, what keeps you up at night? What is it that, you know, you worry about or that you stress about? And I think the flip side of that coin is about 80% of the time we know what the right answer is or we know what we need to do, but for whatever reason we haven't taken the time or we haven't asked those questions. And so You know, what I would encourage those who are listening to do is if you've, if you've had this on your mind and you just haven't taken the time to make the call or to meet with your insurance agent, or if you haven't been shopping around, if you're not satisfied with who your current agent is, take the time to do it. You know, doing it in advance, make sure that you're set up for success moving into the 2020 season. And, you know, just look out, look out for your farm operation.

You know what the right answer is.

Nicole

Gentz: Right, because at the end of the day, it's about you and your operation. Insurance is a relationship business, but just because you've known this producer for 40 years or 35 years or 30 years or whatever, have it, um, just because you've known them for so long might not mean that they know your operation the best or they know how to most effectively get the coverage that you're looking for. So again, a lot of people think that insurance is just kind of a sunk cost, but if it's not structured properly for your business, you're not going to get the coverage that you're looking for when those events happen. And so it's really, really important to make sure that you sit down and make, make it a priority. And the earlier that you can do it before your renewal time, it's good to look at your policy and make sure that you have that renewal date in mind so you know.

But the, the farther you do that ahead of that, the more opportunity you have to make sure you're discussing what you're looking for next year's renewal and what changes you want to make and ask questions about what this exclusion or this potential endorsement adding extra coverage does for your facility specific. And I think it's important to— it is important to go out and shop every so often, right? Because you want to make sure that you are doing the best due diligence for your operation. But it's not something that we want to go out and shop every single year. So it's really important that every, let's say, 5 years or so, you do an— I'll use air quotes on— intense evaluation to make sure that what you're doing is still mimicking and mirroring the type of operation that you're insuring. Because that's a big change too.

I mean, if we change our operation significantly in 5 years, but we're still using and operating on the same policy that we just renew every year, Well, then we have a lot of gaps in coverage as well, right?

Shay

Foulk: Oh, that— those are really good points there. Um, you know, you kind of answered the questions and the topics that I wanted to discuss and pick your brain about. I was wondering if there's anything else on your mind that, uh, you know, farmers and producers out there should be considering maybe this time of year, or anything, you know, that you've been working with recently that you think might be beneficial to the listeners?

Nicole

Gentz: Actually, there is one thing that is coming into effect on January 6th. It is pertinent to both our commercial operators and then also some of our farmers. But those of you who have CDL drivers or hire any employee with a CDL, I guess, that operates a commercial motor vehicle on a public road, is going to have to participate in the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association and— sorry, Administration, wrong A. And so that is coming into effect January 6th. And so basically any employer that has CDL operators or any owner-operator that has a CDL Even if you have your drug and alcohol testing done by a consortium, the consortium will be responsible for posting those positive drug and alcohol tests per se, but you as an owner-operator or anyone who hires CDL drivers has to be registered in that system.

That's going to be how they are tracking positive drug and alcohol tests from here on out. So the goal by 2023 would be that you would no longer have to seek out 3 years of prior employer testing to verify whether or not they've had that drug or alcohol positive in the past.

Shay

Foulk: Hmm, that's really interesting and it affects a lot of people too. So what does that look like for the producers to make that happen? You know, what, what does that look like on the farmer or the commercial end?

Nicole

Gentz: Right, so if you go to the www.fmcsa.gov, that is the official website for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and they have information on that specifically. I believe there's an actual link that goes to the specific fact sheet that has all the information about how they can get registered and why it's pertinent, why they have to do it, uh, things along those lines. So I can definitely forward you one of those fact sheets, um, and then we can help— I don't know, tag it as a resource or something with your podcast when it goes out.

Shay

Foulk: Yeah, absolutely. I'd appreciate that, and I'll throw it in the episode description. We'll make sure that it gets emailed out to the clients as well. Perfect. And I gotta, I gotta commend you, Nicole, there, because I didn't even ask you that question in advance. That was just off the top of your head.

Nicole

Gentz: Well, I was talking about it today, so it was fresh in my mind.

Shay

Foulk: Good, I'm glad I asked. Right, right. Well, great. I mean, thank you so much again for, for joining me today. I really appreciate your insight there. Um, if anybody listening has questions, how can they best contact you?

Nicole

Gentz: They can contact me via email, which is Nicole, N-I-C-O-L-E, Gentz, G-E-N-T-Z, 18@gmail.com. So NicoleGentz18@gmail.com, or via cell phone at 563-235-9617.

Shay

Foulk: Perfect. Well, thank you so much for sharing that, and thank you for sharing your thoughts today. I really appreciate it, Nicole, and I'm sure we'll be talking down the road on more topics here.

Nicole

Gentz: Right, and thanks for having me.

Shay

Foulk: Thanks everyone for listening, and we will catch you next time on the Ag View Pitch.

Narrator: Thanks again for listening, everyone. If you would like to hear more content from Ag View Solutions, listen to our other podcasts such as Dad's Wisdom or our current Harvest Series. Ag View Solutions works as an integral part of operations like yours, side by side for farm profit management, business collaboration and structuring, facilitating industry-leading peer groups, and coaching and consulting tailored to your farm's unique needs. We know that no two farms are the same, and we are here to help make your farm be the best it can be. You can learn more and agviewsolutions.com, email us at agviewpitch@gmail.com, or call Chris Barron at 319-533-5703.

Shay

Foulk: We really look forward to talking with you.