The U.S. Custom Harvesters Hall of Fame

INDUCTEES OF USCHI HALL OF FAME

Ed Peck, Tecumseh, KS - (2006)

Ed’s story begins in 1983 by entering a partnership with the USF&G and starting an insurance program for custom harvesters, proving an alternative market to the one existing market available to custom harvesters. Because of this involvement, he was responsible for many memberships in the USCHI organization. He attended every convention that USCHI had between the years of 1983 and 2006. He sponsored safety schools and sponsored and developed the USCHI Safety Awards program while it was active. After USF&G pulled out of the custom harvesters market, Ed invested his own money to form a rent-a-captive to provide continued coverage for custom harvesters. Ed provided the one hospitality room at the conventions that was family oriented -serving ice cream.

Ed’s story can best be told by the following two letters submitted with the Hall of Fame application:

Please add my voice to the chorus of those supporting the election of Edgar Peck to the USCHI Hall of Fame.

Ed was the founding father of the current insurance programs available to USCHI members. He had the vision to develop the product and the generosity to allow five of us to bring the product to the marketplace. Through investment of untold hours of time and personal money, he insured that the program would not falter.

Additionally, Ed was a supporter of the USCHI organization. He clearly tied safety schools, insurance premium discounts and membership in USCHI together into one package that resulted in exponential growth for the organization.

As Ed has retired at the beginning of this year (2006), and since the 2006 Annual Convention is slated for his hometown and within 100 miles of the homes of his children, I can think of no better time or place to offer a tribute to a man who loves agriculture and so strongly supports the harvesting industry.

Larry B. Minner, CIC, CRM

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Order out of chaos. Ed Peck was instrumental in bringing order to a market without an identity. He was instrumental in presenting a cohesive picture to the insurance industry about what risk management needs the USCHI had, and was able to implement this by telling the Insurance Industry that this was a manageable risk. Ed was a steady hand in selling the harvest community to the Insurance Industry and did it with a self less attitude. The countless hours he spent in presentation, safety and encouragement to the harvest community was a steady influence in real times of crisis in the insurance needs of the Harvest Community.

While Rodgers & Associates had a division and was marketing insurance to the Harvest Community, we joined forces with Ed Peck who became our benefactor and resident guru. Together we participated in his ideals for the Harvest Community and his tireless efforts to promote the Harvest Community and he was of great assistance in making the market place navigable. Ed Peck was able to paint the risk factors so that the insurance industry could understand the business venture of harvesting.
We often remarked to one another that Ed Peck had a love affair with the men and women who engaged in the harvest industry. And, in fact, the concern for the harvest community was what kept Ed Peck in the Harvest Insurance Business. On many an occasion, we would see Ed at a safety meeting in Minnesota or a few days later to see him in Jamestown or Huron or in Kansas, Oklahoma, or Texas. He preached safety and proved that with safety in mind, the cost of insurance could go down leaving money in the harvesters’ profit margin. Ed Peck taught all of us to dance with the folks that brought us, namely the Harvest Community.

When you consider the advances in insurance marketing, Ed Peck always supported the USCHI, invested in its programs and was pleased and proud to be a part of your community. His steady hand and tireless efforts to provide for the risk management needs of the harvest community are admired and remembered. The trail was made smoother, the picture cleared by the devotion that Ed Peck had for his friends. As a competitor in this insurance business, we admired his effort, his good judgment and willingness to share and care. The organization of USCHI can say that Ed Peck was present at the creation, nurtured the new start and encouraged membership, responsibility and good business dealings.

In many ways, he was like a Dalmatian dog at a fire house; he answered the bell and was always on the truck, moving the USCHI forward and toward solutions. He was a competitor but a fair one who treated all the men and women with courtesy and thoughtful concern. We will not see the likes of him again and will be blessed for his having passed our way. I think many of Ed Peck’s contemporaries have retired, but the current members have a great debt to the many men and women who gave legs to the dreams of an organization born out of need and nurtured by dream catchers like Ed Peck. Ed Peck is a good man deserving the recognition of being one of the founding fathers of your association, one of your better cheer leaders, and a constant supporter of your goals. He was there when you needed him most, gave all the energy he could muster to solve problems that others just threw up their hands on. Ed Peck was my business competitor and friend, but I urge you to consider this gentle achiever as one of those who should stand with those who have given and invested in the future of your organization.

Many people contributed to the foundation and establishment of the USCHI, but none were more timely or ardent in their support than Ed Peck. Ed was a gentleman and a scholar when it came to the risk management needs of the USCHI; he applied himself diligently to this task and invested in the organization. In all ways, he was present at the creation of the organization and was a tireless worker in advancing membership and supplying direction for the organization.

He was among the first who supported safety and safety meeting credits for those who were struggling to find insurance at a reasonable cost. Many of Ed Peck’s contemporaries have retired from the active harvest ranks, but those who remember the work of Ed Peck know how devoted he was to the task of selling the idea of reasonable premium rate for the USCHI. He knew that the endorsement of formal safety was the key to lower rates and higher membership in the organization.

Those of us who know Ed Peck remember his enduring effort and support for your organization and how long and hard he supported new membership and participation. We can remember our joint efforts in safety meeting state by state and his relentless pursuit of safe business practices for harvesters. I have fond memories of Ed; you would see him in Minnesota one day, in Jamestown the next day and in Huron the next, the next week in Nebraska, Kansas and Texas. He was a gentleman, a scholar, and a promoter of your organization. He left behind a legacy of basic decency, honor and good business practice.

While he was my contemporary and competitor, he was always a gentleman and taught us the meaning of learning to dance with the folks who brought us. The devotion to your members and the organization was infectious, pervasive and wonderful. Many men and women contributed to the success of your organization but none could be said without remembering that one of the “founding fathers” of your organization was Ed Peck. He invested his skill, his reputation and his money in creating a climate of fair insurance rates and open competition. This led to lower rates and a better business climate, leaving money in the profit margins of the members. He has left in his retirement from the Harvest Insurance a legacy of devotion to your organization, investment in the past and a foundation for the future. To honor him would be a bridge to both the past and the future. Ed was devoted to this business like a hog is to bacon. Devotion like this is rarely found but often celebrated.

Carl Rodgers
Rodgers & Associates Insurance, Inc.