FARMERS MUTUAL TO ACQUIRE DEERE CROP INSURANCE OPERATIONS

Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance of Iowa is expanding its core crop insurance operations with an agreement to acquire the crop insurance operations of agricultural machinery manufacturer Deere & Co. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. FMH will be acquiring Illinois-based John Deere Insurance and John Deere Risk Protection, thereby becoming a top-10 US crop insurer with national distribution. The focus of FMH, which was established in in 1893, has been sales of federal and private crop insurance to farmers in the central US. Deere has been in the crop insurance market for nine years, with John Deere Insurance joining the ranks of the top 10 in the US through offerings of federally-supported multi-peril crop insurance as well as crop hail cover and other private crop insurance products.