June 26, 2022 was a devastating day for the Arlington Agricultural Research Station. That day they had a barn fire and had a total loss of about $2 million. Mike Peters, Agricultural Research Station Director credits the multiple fire crews that responded quickly.
Now over a year later, things are on track to have the new building completed in the fall. Peters shares more about what they’ve gone through this past year in order to come back from such a great loss.
“We had tractors, semis, vehicles, implements, and feed and bedding stored in that shed,” explains Peters. “As farmers know, none of that stuff is cheap so we took a major hit.”
All of the equipment has been replaced with some having needed upgrades for their researchers. However, the building has not yet been replaced. Peters says they are optimistic that the building will be replaced this fall.
“One of the biggest differences between us as a research facility and a commercial growers is that some of our equipment is very specialized,” Peters says. “We couldn’t ask a neighbor to come help with something because the equipment needs to be very specific to our research needs.”
Despite the equipment differences, Peters says the situation is still similar to if a fire happened to another grower. His advice is to always have a good inventory of hours on equipment, the age of them, and more so that you have a file ready to give the insurance adjuster if needed.
He adds, “We were very fortunate that one of our supervisors had gone through and done a really detailed inventory. The night of the fire we were able to report to the fire department exactly what was in the building and we could easily start with insurance.”
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