7
F
News
F
hail insu
r
ance a
rr
anged via aP
r
oduce
r
O
r
ganisation (PO)
cu
rr
ently att
r
acts a substantial subsidy of up to 50%of t
h
e
p
r
emium f
r
omB
r
ussels t
hr
oug
h
t
h
eC
r
isisManagement Fund.
Specialist insu
r
ance of t
h
is type p
r
ovides a p
r
udent g
r
owe
r
wit
h
some financial p
r
otection f
r
om t
h
e potential devastation of
a
h
ail st
r
ike, w
h
ic
h
is pa
r
ticula
r
ly impo
r
tant fo
r
h
ig
h
value top-
f
r
uit w
h
e
r
e t
h
e investment can be asmuc
h
as £20,000/
h
a.
ManyUK g
r
owe
r
sw
h
o a
r
emembe
r
s of pa
r
ticipatingPOs
take advantage of t
h
is subsidy, but t
h
is pa
r
ticipation is by no
meanswidesp
r
ead. T
h
eDutc
h
mutual top-f
r
uit
h
ail insu
r
e
r
OFh
wa
r
ns t
h
at unlessmo
r
ePOs engage, t
h
is subsidy is unlikely to
be
r
eplacedbyDEFrA afte
r
B
r
exit.
Paul robe
r
ts, UK consultant toOFh comments, “PO
executives, di
r
ecto
r
s andg
r
owe
r
membe
r
s a
r
e u
r
ged tomake
full use of t
h
e fundw
h
ile it can still be accessed. Failu
r
e to fully
utilise t
h
eC
r
isisManagement Fundw
h
ilst we a
r
e still pa
r
t of
t
h
e EUwill su
r
elymean t
h
at w
h
en t
h
eUKGove
r
nment
conside
r
t
h
ei
r
policy fo
r
fa
r
ming subsidies afte
r
B
r
exit, t
h
is
benefit to t
h
e f
r
uit g
r
owe
r
will disappea
r
. It
r
eally is ‘use it o
r
lose it’! Ea
r
lie
r
t
h
is yea
r
t
h
eBBC
r
epo
r
ted t
h
at 90% of all fa
r
m
businesseswould collapsewit
h
out simila
r
levels of subsidy
being available post-B
r
exit,“ says JonnyMcI
r
vine, aPa
r
tne
r
in
Weat
h
e
r
byshamilton, t
h
e insu
r
ance b
r
oke
r
r
esponsible since
1995 fo
r
UK
h
ail insu
r
ancewit
h
OFh. “T
h
eGove
r
nment
h
as
p
r
omised tomatc
h
existing subsidies until 2020, but t
h
ose only
taken up in t
h
emino
r
ity a
r
e unlikely to su
r
vive a
r
eview. If we
a
r
en’t using it now, wewon’t be getting it late
r
.”
ThE FrUITGrOWEr •
MArCh 2017
ef
r
uitg
r
owe
r
.co.uk
‘Use it o
r
lose it!’ f
r
uit g
r
owe
r
s andPOs a
r
ewa
r
ned
