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Ihry NewsSummer 2015

A publication brought to you by Ihry Insurance Agency, Inc.

Hail: The Next Big ThingArticle provided by Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. Two years after the VORTEX2 project ended, Brown and Giammanco are embarking on another ground-breaking endeavor to go inside hailstorms in an effort to reduce or eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage reported annually across the United States.

The pair is helping to develop and implement IBHS’ first scientific field study examining characteristics of severe hail, including the hardness of hailstones. This is foundational science, because no commonly accepted or relied upon standard currently exists. Using firsthand experience with instrumentation gained during their participation with VORTEX2, the IBHS team has

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developed a new, unique piece of instrumentation, Giammanco said.

“The instrument will allow for the hardness property of an individual hailstone to be quantified. This field project will collect these first-of-a-kind measurements,” he said. “This research will aid the risk modeling community in developing an improved understanding of damaging hailstorms, as well as provide a potential forecast application to understand that a given storm may produce more damaging hail.”

For now, IBHS field research efforts are focused on determining the characteristics of hailstones for use in

Hail: The Next Big Thing(continued from page 1)

guiding our laboratory production of hailstones for impact testing, notes Brown. Plans also are in place to conduct statistical analyses from large damage data sets collected after land-falling hurricanes. Research capabilities may be expanded to otherperils in the future. “The hailstone characteristics pilot field study will take place in May or June of 2012 and will focus on measuring hardness and density characteristics of natural hailstones,” explained Brown, who has already been hard at work re-creating realistic hailstorms inside the IBHS Research Center in South Carolina.

This summer, two IBHS teams will follow behind hailstorms and collect data on fresh hailstones as storms occur. These data are vital to ensuring that the artificial hailstones created in the IBHS facility are highly realistic. Once a more realistic stone iscreated, better, more accurate impact testing can be completed in the lab to help understand the true vulnerabilities in building systems. “It is hypothesized that harder hailstones will inflict more damage than softer hailstones, and we want to examine how that variable affects the testing of building materials. Our goal is to be able to inflict the same type of damage, see very similar damage patterns, with our artificial hailstones as we observe in the field from Mother Nature’s hailstones,” Brown said.

In addition to the IBHS team, WeatherPredict Consulting, an affiliate of IBHS member RenaissanceRe, will be archiving radar, surface, and upper air data on all of the storms for which the IBHS team collects data on. Brown notes that

“this partnership will help IBHS and us determine if certain environmental characteristics lead to harder or softer hailstones, which then will allow us to take a huge step forward in assessing the risk of individual hailstorms.”

The field research teams are using new dual polarization (known as Dual-Pol) radar technology to help guide their efforts. While the benefits and improvements in tornado forecasting ability gained from VORTEX 2 will take several years to put into

practice, Dual-Pol is a new technology continuing to come online this year through the National Weather Service’s (NWS) network of Doppler radars. It willadd a vertical component to the existing radar technology, which currently only includes a horizontal pulse. The upgrade to Dual-Pol technology began in February 2011. Interestedparties can track the progress of the Dual-Pol upgrade here: http://www.roc.noaa.gov/WSR88D/dualpol/.

“Existing radars using single, horizontal polarization struggle to tell the difference between a lot of small hail, and a little large hail, and also struggle to differentiate between types of precipitation,” Brown said, “which is why this new Dual-Pol technology is so exciting – the addition of the vertical pulse will give us a much clearer picture of what is happening with the precipitation inside the storm.”

Looking long-term, Giammanco and Brown said the goal for IBHS hail field research is to couple together hardness and density measurements with environmental characteristic data and risk analysis, and damage surveys and claims studies to create a complete picture of damaging events. “This kind of complete study would allow us to determine what hailstone characteristics lead to different damage states, and allow us the opportunity to further investigate hailstorm damage modes, including the effects of wind-blown hail,” Brown concluded.

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• Ihry Insurance and Diversified Crop Insurance offer more than 20 different options for hail coverage to meet your unique needs! Our Indemnity matrix will identify which option will provide you the coverage you need within your budget.

• It’s even more critical that any gaps in coverage are protected during times of low commodity prices. Protect your cash flow and ability to meet all your debt obligations this year with properly designed coverage specific to your needs.

• Be sure to look at examples of available coverage in this month’s MPCI/ Hail Newsletter! Not receiving it yet? Give your email address to your Ihry Insurance agent today!

• All Hail policies will be billed by the AIP. To receive a cash discount, premiums must be paid by July 15th.

• Many Optional Endorsements also available. Give your Ihry agent a call today!

Disaster Planning: There’s an App for ThatArticle provided by Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety.

These days, we rely on our iPhone to keep us from getting lost, find us the best shopping deals and check in online with our social network. The new Know Your Plan app – listed as “Your Plan” in iTunes – gives you the mobile power and organization to help keep your family and your home safer during a disaster. Even better, the app is available for free in the iTunes Store.

Know Your Plan, which can be used on iPhone, iPad and iTouch, was developed by the Insurance Information Institute, and features property protection guidance from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS). The app contains IBHS disaster preparedness checklists for hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, earthquakes, severe winter weather and evacuations. It also gives you the option of setting up reminders to complete a task, tracking your progress and customizing and sharing checklists with your social network. Additional functionality includes a built-in Google Crisis Response feed with access to local

emergency information. Know Your Plan is available in iTunes, or by searching “Insurance Information Institute” in the App store from any iPhone.

Social media platforms help make the Internet the third most popular way for Americans to gather emergency information, according to a recent survey by the American Red Cross. Many of us already carry on semi-intelligent conversations with Siri on iPhone; why not give her something really important to say? Know Your Plan is one more tool to help you organize, stay safe, and reduce the risk of your home being damaged during a disaster. Now, that’s a conversation worth having.

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Don’t let Mother Nature find gaps in your coverage!

Be In The Know...Hail Insurance

Protection Strategies to Help Ensure Network Security

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Article provided by Travelers.

Each year, attacks on cyber networks have resulted in the loss of important data costing businesses millions² The 2014 Travelers Business Risk Index shows that more than half of all companies surveyed worry about technology and cyber risks. Aggressive and comprehensive protection strategies may help you avoid external attacks and maintain the safety of your network.

Creating layers of protection or a “defense-in-depth”² approach can help provide a sound strategy for network security. This approach uses multiple devices, products and procedures rather than relying on a single method to enforce security.

10 Steps to a More Secure Network:

Set clear administrator privileges An important first step in providing security

for your network is to establish and enforce administrator privileges, managing who has authorization to install software and change system configuration settings.

Secure your private network Many intranet or private networks consist

of multiple local area networks (LANs) designed to connect your computers to resources, such as printers, servers and other applications. Trace department business functions from users’ computers back to the physical servers that house their data. Your network design should allow users to have access to the information they need to do their job, without allowing them to access other non-job-related information.

Secure endpoints by configuring Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)

In network security, endpoint security refers to protection of the private network where it intersects with public network. The common devices used at these endpoints to connect to the public network include mail servers to send and receive emails, web

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servers to host websites, and proxy servers to handle requests from clients seeking resources. A common security configuration to protect these endpoints is a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). A DMZ is a computer network with firewalls and other prevention systems inserted as a “neutral zone” between a company’s private network and the outside public network. All incoming and outgoing communications pass through the firewall and intrusion detection and prevention systems prior to entering the private network.

Monitor the network You and your cyber security providers should implement network logging and monitoring

strategies. These allow companies to monitor unauthorized data transfers and unauthorized attempts to access your private network. Detection systems should provide responsible parties with appropriate alerts and scheduled reports.

Maintain firewalls Firewalls are a fundamental network security solution. They are used to permit only

appropriate traffic to enter and leave the private computer network. In addition to using firewalls to protect your private network from the Internet, firewalls installed within your private network can be used to segment the network into unique security domains supporting enhanced layers of defense.

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Companies should prepare for the unexpected by establishing a comprehensive Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan.

Contact your Ihry Agent today!

Sources:¹ http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/report-cybercrime-and-espionage-costs-445-billion-annually/2014/06/09/8995291c-ecce-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html

² https://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/sites/default/files/recommended_practices/Defense_in_Depth_Oct09.pdf

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Establish intrusion detection and prevention systems

Intrusion detection systems (IDS) and intrusion prevention systems (IPS) can work together with firewalls to analyze traffic to determine if it is legitimate. An IDS product will provide alerts on invalid traffic, while an IPS will block the traffic.

Protect remote access If your employees are allowed access to your

private network from remote networks, this access should only be through a firewall that protects your private network. Another option is to utilize a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that uses encryption and multi-factor authentication to provide greater security.

Isolate guest wireless local area network (WLAN)

If your company operates a wireless local area network (WLAN) for the use of customers, guests and visitors, it is important that it is kept separate from the main company network.

Use encryption programs When used properly, encryption technologies

can virtually prevent files, directories, or disks from falling into unauthorized hands.

Define and practice continuity plans/disaster recovery

Once you have completed mapping and securing your network, assess any critical equipment or systems and evaluate the potential business impact if they should fail or are breached.

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Protect Yourself Against PhishingArticle provided by Foremost.

If you’re a busy person who’s always on the go, you probably check your email on your phone. Gartner reports that almost 75% of smartphone owners use their devices to check their email. And if you’re really on the go, you read your email quickly. In fact, Movable Ink’s US Consumer Device Preference Report of 2014 via Email Monday states that most mobile users only spend about 10 seconds to view each message. 10 seconds isn’t a long time especially if you’re multitasking. How many of you are guilty of reading your email while walking down the hall, sidewalk or cafeteria?

Combine the quickness of our culture plus the growth of phishing, and you’ve got an increased risk for identity theft. Phishing (pronounced like fishing) is the activity of defrauding an online account holder of financial information by posing as a legitimate company.

According to a Google study, phishing emails work 45% of the time. Typically, these scams are obvious. The email will contain numerous spelling errors or words that are out of place. But sometimes, if you’re not paying close enough attention, you’ll be dangerously convinced into providing confidential information.

Take for instance this email I received a few weeks ago. It looks legitimate and there’s even a recognizable logo. But, I knew I hadn’t purchased anything from iTunes in several weeks, so this

message alarmed me. Look at the third paragraph: “It was only sent to alert you in case you did not initiate the download yourself.” I instantly panicked and thought someone else had my credit card information and was making purchases. This message made me stupidly reactionary. I followed the instructions on the rest of the message and before you know it, I was verifying payment details that had not in fact been compromised. I quickly realized my mistake but it was too late. I’d given these scammers confidential financial information. Thankfully my credit card company canceled my card and sent me a new one, but what if my gut instinct didn’t set in? What if I was new to mobile email and didn’t think twice?

Next time you see a suspicious email, slow down and think twice. If you’re uncertain about the message; call the sender, speak to a customer service representative and verify the request asked. Lastly, as tax season is underway, the IRS is warning folks to be aware of identity theft via email.

Read Forbes’ article about it here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2015/02/19/turbotax-phishing-e-filing-and-irs-security/

Article provided by Farmers Alliance.

Today, equipment keeps all kinds of farms going… and income flowing. When equipment breaks down, it can bring farm operations and income to a halt. Most equipment now contains highly sensitive technology that can be badly damaged by something as common, simple and sudden as a power surge. Most property insurance coverage (like an Agri-Range policy) excludes equipment breakdown losses, leaving farm owners with a big exposure. Unbudgeted losses from a breakdown can be extremely costly, and in many cases, greatly impact the bottom line.

Why do you need Agri-Range Equipment Breakdown coverage?

All farms have equipment breakdown exposures. When surveying your farm, look around: grain augers, grain dryers, emergency generators, power panels, pumps, motors and ventilating fans and systems — all of these have potential for equipment breakdown exposures.

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Get Coverage for Your Farm Equipment

Equipment Breakdown coverage provides protection from damage by:

• Short circuits/electrical arcing • Utility power surges• Mechanical breakdown • Motor burnout • Centrifugal force

Types of covered equipment:

• Electrical Distribution Systems• Heating and Cooling Systems• Refrigeration and Controlled Environments• Boilers and Pressure Vessels• Computers & Electronic Equipment• Mechanical Equipment• Irrigation Equipment – including center pivots,

wheels, drive mechanisms, motors & gears• Vehicle-mounted GPS Equipment

Please Note: Coverage does NOT apply to certain vehicles, such as: cars, trucks, trailers, tractors, harvesters or other self propelled vehicles.To add this coverage to your Agri-Range policy, contact your Ihry agent today!

IMPORTANT: Refer to the policy for coverages provided and pricing. If there is any conflict between the policy and this information, the provisions of the policy shall prevail.

Before you replant your crop please remember:• Replant coverage is automatically a part of all Revenue Protection (RP) and Yield Protection (YP) policies

except CAT.

• To qualify for replant there must be at least the lesser of 20 acres or 20% of the insured planted acreage for the unit as long as the remaining stand will not produce at least 90% of the production guarantee for the acreage and is practical to replant.

• What do I do if I want to replant my crop? Call your agent immediately so they can get an adjuster to come and look at your fields and release your crop.

It’s important to regularly examine trees and check for damage or other trouble signs. Good pruning can prevent many problems, but over-pruning can significantly weaken a tree.

Some trees are more prone to storm damage than others. A shallow-rooted tree growing in soft soil can easily topple onto a house during strong winds. A tree’s roots can also become weakened after heavy rains, elevating this risk. Check trees to ensure they’re firmly rooted in the ground.

These potential problems are easy to spot:

• Cracks in the trunk or major limbs.

• Hollow and decayed trees.

• Trees that look one-sided or lean significantly.

• Branches hanging over the house near the roof.

• Limbs in contact with power lines.

• Mushrooms growing from the bark, indicating a decayed or weakened stem.

• V-shaped forks rather than U-shaped ones.

• V-shaped are more likely to split.

• Crossing branches that rub or interfere with one another.

Good pruning can prevent many problems. Prompt removal of diseased, damaged or dead plant parts helps limit the spread of harmful insects and disease, as well as reducing the possibility of future storm damage.

Experts offer these pruning tips:

• Check local tree regulations prior to pruning or tree removal.

• Avoid pruning branches flush to the trunk. Doing so removes not only the limb but some of the trunk wood, opening the plant to possible decay or insect damage.

• Begin by making a cut partway through the bottom of any limb to be trimmed, a few inches from the trunk. Then cut through the limb just above the first cut. This ensures that when the limb falls, it will not tear off a long strip of bark on the way down. (continued on back page)

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Are Your Trees In Trouble?Article provided by State Auto.

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Agassiz Drain Tile

Customer Spotlight

@Describe a typical project.Mostly farms, but also parking lots and bigger projects. We did Mayville’s high school baseball diamond.

What’s the largest area you’ve covered in a project?284 miles of pipe. It was a 1,200 acre project.

How many projects do you take on in a year?Close to 100 projects. Last year, the amount of piping laid could cover the distance between LA and Philadelphia!

Ross & Derek’s Top 3...

What type of insurance do you have through Ihry Insurance?Business and Crop & Hail.

How long have you used Ihry Insurance?6 years.

Describe your experience with Ihry Insurance.Shane and the ladies in the office are really helpful. If we ask for something, it gets done real quick! They stay on top of you to make sure things get done in a timely manner.

How long has Agassiz Drain Tile been around?We opened in the Winter of 2005. We laid our first pipe in the ground in Spring of 2006.

How did Agassiz Drain Tile get started?Ross and I contacted a few different tiling companies. We road-tripped to Ohio, Michigan and Iowa and worked for free to get hands on experience. Ross’s family did tiling before we started our own company.

What challenges did you face starting up your own business?At first, getting the general knowledge of tiling out, since it was a newer concept. Also, convincing older clients that we were capable! We were 26 year olds at the time, so it was a challenge to be taken seriously. Now, the challenge is more of a cost factor.

How many employees do you have now?25

When is your busiest season?August to December

Ross Johnson & Derek Peterson

Reasons to choose Agassiz Drain Tile:1. We don’t price our customers, we price the project. Our pricing is fair and consistent.2. We care about timelines, but care more about a job done right. 3. We use state-of-the-art technology! We were the first in this area to use GPS technology and are now using drones to get topography of a field and help design projects.

Reasons to live in ND:1. Deep roots. We were born and raised here.2. Culture is great.3. People here are top notch!

Places I’d like to visit:

1. Ireland 1. Australia2. Norway 2. Alaska3. See all 50 states 3. Norway

Ross: Derek:

The arial view above is of a main installation by Page, ND this Spring.

The main is a larger pipe that is installed on the headland of the field. From this there are 3” lateral lines installed every 40 feet apart up and down the field.

This plow is a Bron 600, which is used to install pipe. It weighs about 85,000 lbs and has about 550 horsepower.

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Revenue Management Update Article Provided by Rich Morrison, Risk Management AnalystDiversified Crop Insurance Services

Nobody can claim ignorance to this one. All winter long I and other analysts talked about the possibility of seeing HUGE soybean ending stocks next year, with a big carry in & record US planted acres this spring. So what did USDA do in its first 2015-16 S&D report today? Put out a new crop soybean ending stocks estimate of 500 mln bu, which would be the 2nd largest ever. And consequent selling following the report took the November soybean contract to a new low close of $9.30¾. The old crop soybean stocks number of 350 mln bu was slightly positive on its own, as USDA increased both crush and exports. USDA estimated next year’s average soybean price at $8.25-9.75. World soybean stocks are expected to set a record next year with record South American production as well.

There were no real surprises in the corn numbersfrom USDA. They bumped old crop stocks slightlydue to decreased residual use, and dropped nextyear’s stocks a little over 100 mln bu mainly from areduction in planted acres/production. Averagefarm price is forecasted at $3.20-3.80 for ‘15/16. At the world level, USDA raised old crop stocks (again) on bigger South American crops, and shows a slight decline next year – but still a big number.

There also were no surprises in wheat estimates, with bearish world wheat stocks continuing to dominate. US stocks were raised 25 mln bu for old crop and 84 mln bu for next year. And world stocks were raised almost 4 mmt for old crop, and another 2+ mmt for next year. So we’re going into a year where it looks like the world is going to have a lot of extra wheat, and much of that what will likely compete with feed grains to get into rations. USDA dropped its average farm price a nickel for this year, & is projecting next year’s average farm price to

range from $4.50-5.50.

The cotton report was a non-event today, with USDA keeping old crop stocks unchanged and projecting next year’s ending stocks to be the samedespite a drop in planted acres this year. Average farm price was also kept unchanged for both years at a midpoint of 60 cents. Unplanted US acres & continued wetness across the South could be a wild card for the cotton market going forward.

There also weren’t any big changes in the rice numbers. USDA raised old crop stocks 0.5 mln cwt, & raised next year’s US stocks another 4.5 mln cwt. And they lowered this year’s price 0.8 cents, & project next year’s average farm price for long grain rice at 10.00-11.00 cents.

Nothing Bullish from USDA in May

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Using All the Tools in Your ToolboxArticle provided by Rich Morrison, Risk Management AnalystDiversified Crop Insurance Services

Everyone has a toolbox. Some of us just carry a few basics in our toolbox – hammer, duct tape, & WD-40 – while others keep a much larger selection of tools. For easy fixes, those basics can do the trick. But in those tough situations, you may need a pair of vice grips or some needle nose pliers to get the job done.

That seems to be the situation this year with risk management. In past years marketing has been pretty easy. Two years ago we could sell right off the combine or picker at prices high enough to make a good profit. But at this year’s prices that may not be the case. Should producers look at adding more tools to their toolbox? I think the answer is clearly

“Yes”. Here are some tools I think we all need to at least make available in our toolboxes.

1) Revenue Insurance. This is one of our basic tools. In the past this tool alone has been able to lock in profit in many cases or at least cover most of our costs.

2) Cash Marketing. This is another basic tool. We have to sell our grain sometime! Are we aggressive when the market gives us a chance to sell at a profit?

Do we understand and take advantage of strong basis opportunities?

3) Market Information. We all have our sources – from our old DTN screen to email to Twitter there are many free as well as for-pay sources. Does this information give us an advantage? I believe it can.

4) Futures & Options. These are tools that the majority of producers do not have in their toolbox. They’re also tools that can be extremely beneficial in tight margin years – if you understand how to use them. Making extra nickels & dimes in a year like this can make a big difference!

5) Financing. Your relationship with your lender, and the flexibility they provide, can be extremely helpful when margins are tight. Did you use the good years to get your financing in order?

Your Ihry Insurance agent has access to people that can help you add these tools to your toolbox. I encourage you to get a bigger toolbox and add these tools to it!

• Finish by cutting off the few inches sticking out from the trunk. Be sure to leave the “branch collar,” the swollen area of trunk tissue that forms around the base of a branch. This protects the main trunk from damage.

It’s also important to care for storm damaged trees. DisasterSafety.org recommends taking the following steps:

• In general, it is best to reset only smaller trees, since large trees will be weakened and may fall again.

• Decide what to do with tree stumps.

• If you are going to leave them, cut them off flush with the ground.

• If you plan to remove them, leave four feet of stump standing.

• Removal will be cheaper and easier if stumps can be pulled out instead of dug out.

• Cut weak branches that could easily be thrown against a structure during high winds. Also, reduce the chances of branches becoming weak by trimming branches more than five feet long.

• Remove branches hanging over a structure.

• Contact the local utility company to trim away any limbs close to utility lines. It’s important to never touch a wire while trimming.

Devils Lake 701.662.5027 | Hillsboro 701.636.2540 | Hope 800.726.7929 Mahnomen 218.935.5830 McVille 701.322.5553 | Page 888.791.7055 Towner 701.537.5942 | West Fargo 701.492.2228

www.ihryins.com

Are Your Trees In Trouble?(continued from page 8)