Losses due to strong winds, excessive rain, and hail: What to do?

Several municipalities in southern Brazil suffered severe losses due to recent strong winds, excessive rainfall, and hail. Given this scenario of significant losses, what is the expected course of action for rural producers?

First, for those who have insurance, it is imperative to immediately contact the insurance company to report the incident (an event covered by the policy). It is crucial to actively follow up until the expert conducts the inspection and assesses the damages.
It should be noted that there are legal and contractual deadlines for the insurer to provide the expert assessment, otherwise it risks causing greater losses to the producer. Currently, the use of satellite imagery and other technologies can significantly speed up this inspection process, especially in situations of high demand such as the current one.

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Secondly, regardless of whether there is insurance, the producer must provide loss reports prepared by private experts or by the professional who already monitors their crops.

This is justified because there may be divergence or disagreement with the report to be presented by the insurance company's expert, which could even lead to legal disputes to ensure the correct compensation.

In addition to guaranteeing proper compensation, the loss assessment report will prove the damages and support the request for debt extension – the restructuring of the financing payment schedule – in accordance with the Rural Credit Manual. This is a right of the producer that must be exercised in such situations. The creditor, in turn, must be formally notified of the producer's situation so that the operations can be extended, without altering the contracted interest rate and without the application of late payment charges or penalties.

The producer must also mention the emergency decrees that will be issued in their extension request.

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Provided that the requirements for extending the debt are met, the producer's data cannot (obviously) be included in credit restriction databases, agricultural machinery cannot be subject to search and seizure, operations cannot be demanded within the same deadlines initially stipulated in the contract, and the producers' land cannot be auctioned off.

Although these are exceptional situations, rural producers need to act preventively to ensure respect for their rights, enabling the continuity of their activity and the preservation of their assets and livelihood. Knowing and exercising these rights, whether in the administrative sphere or, when necessary, in the judicial sphere, is fundamental to mitigating losses beyond those already experienced due to climate issues.