Insurance for Toronto Agribusinesses
Liability insurance is a cornerstone of your commercial insurance for your Toronto agribusiness. Without enough liability insurance, your food or beverage processing business could face financially damaging lawsuits.
Toronto agribusinesses need to have their commercial insurance tailored to their liability risks as part of their risk management strategy.
If your agribusiness is located in Toronto, or in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), or elsewhere in Ontario, a Western Financial Group business insurance broker will get you commercial coverage that provides customized liability protection. We’ll also get you insurance to protect your food or beverage processing business’s other needs.
Western is a trusted, national insurance brokerage that has partnered with Canada’s top insurance companies to provide commercial insurance to businesses. We work with our insurance partners to find the best coverage for your business needs.
We make the process easy by getting insurance quotes for you and giving you policy coverage options that you can choose to protect your Toronto agribusiness’s specific needs such as liability protection.
Agribusiness in Toronto
The Toronto region has over 1,400 food and beverage manufacturing companies. The Toronto region — especially Guelph — is a major hub of agricultural food research in Canada and North America.
What Toronto companies needs agribusiness insurance?
- Beverage manufacturing
- Bakeries and tortilla manufacturing
- Meat product manufacturing
- Beverage manufacturing
- Sugar and confectionery product manufacturing
- Fruit and vegetable preserving and specialty food
- Dairy products manufacturing
- Grain & oilseed milling
- Seafood product preparation and packaging
- Animal food manufacturing
- Hemp food products manufacturers
- Agri-food research centres
Why is business liability insurance important in your risk management strategy?
You’ll need to choose business liability insurance coverage that identifies and manages the risks you face in Toronto’s agri-food sector. Your goal would be to minimize any negative financial consequences as a result of lawsuits.
Examples of potential risks that your food and beverage manufacturing business can face include errors and omissions in your work, product issues, system failures, security breaches and data loss, cyberattacks, and severe weather.
Liability insurance is an essential part of your agribusiness package. Here are the liability coverages that you need to help protect your Toronto agribusiness from lawsuits.
Here are the liability insurance coverages that your Toronto food or beverage processing business needs:
Product liability insurance
Product liability insurance protects Toronto agribusiness companies against claims alleging third-party property damage or bodily injury caused by a product you manufacture, distribute, or sell.
Product liability protects your business should one of your products harm a customer, even if you’re not at fault or it wasn’t your intention.
Product liability insurance covers:
- Design defects: There’s something wrong with the product’s design.
- Manufacturing defects: Something went wrong during manufacturing.
- Marketing missteps: A mistake in marketing materials, such as improper labels.
- Insufficient warnings: The product doesn’t include sufficient warning/information about potential harm.
Consider product recall insurance
This type of coverage helps businesses in Toronto’s agri-sector recoup the cost of recalling products due to a defect, whether that recall is voluntary or involuntary (if it’s ordered by a government or regulatory agency). Product recall insurance covers your shipping, warehousing, disposal, and restocking costs.
Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance
This is necessary liability insurance for Toronto/Ontario agribusinesses. Without commercial general liability insurance, you will pay costs related to third-party (customer/supplier) injuries or damage to their property out of your own pocket.
If you were sued, commercial general liability insurance would cover the legal costs to defend the claim against your agricultural company in court, as well as costs to cover damages to compensate third parties whether you win or lose your case.
What kind of risks does commercial general liability insurance cover?
- Injury to a third party who is not your employee
- Damage to someone’s property
- Damage to rented property
- Medical bills if someone is injured
- Legal costs and settlement costs of liability lawsuits filed against you
- Liability lawsuits related to slander and libel
Cyber liability insurance
If you keep client data and their payments information, your agribusiness could be hacked by cyberthieves. Cyber liability insurance will help protect your food or beverage processing company financially should there be a cyber-attack.
Depending on the size of the data breach and the information that was taken, the customers who are affected can hold you liable and sue your Toronto agri-company for damages.
Professional liability insurance
Professional liability insurance helps protect Toronto agribusinesses when there are claims of negligence when they are performing their duties. It’s also called errors and omissions insurance.
A client could sue you for negligence, mistakes, omissions, or failing to deliver a service as promised that causes them to suffer a financial loss. For instance, if a food product you produce for them fails to meet their specifications or is not delivered on time.
Directors and Officers liability insurance
Does your Toronto agribusiness have a board of directors? Directors and officers insurance provides financial coverage for legal expenses to help defend a board member or officer against legal claims. It typically covers misleading statements, reporting issues, and inaccurate disclosure.
Directors and Officers insurance also covers:
- Negligent acts and allegations of misrepresentation
- Breach of legal or fiduciary duties
- Decisions that result in adverse financial consequences for shareholders
- Wrongful dismissal and employee discrimination claims
- Failure to adhere to federal and provincial laws and regulations
Commercial umbrella insurance
You may want to consider commercial umbrella insurance for your Toronto food or beverage company. Commercial umbrella insurance addresses liability coverage gaps. It’s used when the primary liability coverage, for example on your commercial general liability insurance, has reached its coverage limit.
The protection that umbrella insurance provides applies only to expenses related to liability such as legal fees, court fees, and legal settlements.
What other insurance do Toronto agribusinesses need?
Commercial property insurance
Commercial property insurance provides financial support to replace or cover repairs to your Toronto agribusiness if it is damaged by a flood, fire, or severe weather. It also covers vandalism and theft.
Commercial property insurance also covers contents such as computers, furniture, tools, equipment, and inventory. Commercial property coverage also extends to protect others’ property that is under your care.
Business interruption insurance
This type of insurance supports you when your Toronto agri-sector business cannot operate due to a covered loss.
There are a number of losses that could force your agribusiness to shut down. Some examples are:
- Damage to your equipment from fire or vandalism
- A major reduction in revenue due to a client/supplier facing losses of their own
- A disruption in your supply chain
Business interruption insurance can help with these expenses:
- Payroll
- Rent
- Utilities
- Property taxes
- Alarm monitoring
- Relocation of your business
Equipment breakdown insurance
Your food or beverage processing plant has expensive equipment and machinery. Equipment breakdown insurance covers machinery from costs associated with sudden or accidental breakdown of electronic or mechanical machinery.
Commercial auto insurance
If you are using your car for your job in the agribusiness sector, for example for delivery or sales, it won’t be covered by your personal car insurance policy. You will need commercial coverage as part of your insurance package.
How much does Toronto agribusiness insurance cost?
The following factors are typically used when determining the cost of your business insurance:
- Location(s)
- Services provided
- Number of employees
- Years of experience
- Annual revenue
- Any past claims
What do I do if I have a claim against my Toronto agribusiness company?
- Contact your broker immediately after any business-related mishap. Waiting to file a claim can confuse insurers about the severity of the damages to your business.
- Know your policy so that when you contact your broker you are familiar with what will be covered or not.
- Document the damage. Take photos right away and write down what happened.
- Do not throw away damaged goods after taking photos. Keep the physical evidence so that your adjustor can see it.
- Do not invite lawsuits. Don’t say anything that could be used against you, especially if you aren’t sure what happened.
- Be honest about what your damaged property is worth. Damaged commercial property is generally valued according to its actual cash value or replacement value.
Here’s an insurance checklist:
- Do you have the best business insurance rate that suits your sector?
- Do you have the right amount for your deductible and regularly review it to make sure it’s the right amount for you?
- Are you or your employees using personal vehicles for work?
Western Financial Group has licensed BUSINESS INSURANCE EXPERTS to get you the right insurance coverage for your Toronto agribusiness. Our experts are available now to help you navigate the business insurance journey to protect your Ontario agribusiness.
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