Agriculture & Horticulture
Hawkins' Forensic Expertise in Agriculture & Horticulture
From crop failures, pest and disease outbreaks, pesticide damage, and soil contamination to farming infrastructure and equipment malfunctions, Hawkins provides expert forensic investigation across the agricultural and horticultural sectors.
Our specialists investigate a wide range of incidents occurring on farmland, including soil contamination, flooding, plant health issues, machinery faults, and crop storage failures, to uncover the root causes of loss or damage. With CPR35-compliant reporting and rapid deployment, we support insurers, legal professionals, and growers with clear, science-backed insights.
Our experts are qualified scientists and engineers, familiar with investigating biological and engineering failures across the agricultural and horticultural sectors. We have detailed knowledge of crop production processes, crop storage facilities, industry best practices, pesticide usage regulations, and the mechanical and electrical systems commonly found on farms.
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WHY APPOINT A FORENSIC INVESTIGATOR?
If you are dealing with an agricultural or horticultural incident and want to identify the root cause, how it happened and how to prevent it from recurring, a forensic investigator can help. Hawkins can provide an expert who is familiar with all aspects of a case and can offer clarity and answers to your questions.
- We provide you with the answers you need to determine why an incident occurred and to assist in making informed repudiation and recovery decisions.
- Our experts are knowledgeable in a wide range of areas with proven expertise and can investigate all aspects of an agricultural and horticultural cases.
- We have the laboratories and equipment specifically to fully support our investigation.
- We will help you to determine if an incident could have been avoided.
- We support subrogation recovery claims.
- We help you to make decisions regarding where legal responsibilities and/or liabilities lie.
- We help you to defend wrongful claims.
- We produce reports suitable for Court and litigation.
- We provide consultancy advice to prevent similar events happening again in the future.
- If removing a risk entirely is unavoidable, we advise on steps to take to mitigate the risk and reduce the potential damage resulting from an incident.
- We advise on servicing, maintenance and repair regimes.
- We have detailed knowledge of policy cover, liability and warranties to assist decision making.
Examples of Typical cases
If you would like to know if we can help, please fill out our enquiry form or give us a call for a free consultation. The list below provides a few types of cases which we investigate regularly or have investigated in the past .
- Crop failure caused by poor germination, pests, diseases, pesticide damage or weather events.
- Tracing the origin of pests and diseases in horticultural supply chains.
- Spoilage of horticultural produce in shipment.
- Wildfires causing damage to crops and property.
- Stored crop spoilage caused by pests, moulds or rots.
- Self-heating of grain.
- Farm machinery failures.
- Flooding of agricultural land.
- Faulty farming equipment.
- Generator failures.
- Anaerobic digester failures.
- Structural failure of farm buildings.
- Grain store design investigation.
- Vehicle and machinery fires.
- Personal injuries.
- Accidents on farmland.
- Farming accidents.
- Fallen trees causing damage to property and people.
HOW DOES HAWKINS INVESTIGATE AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL FAILURES AND LOSSES?
1
Consultation
We begin with a conversation to understand your needs and assess available information such as service records, witness accounts, and photographs. We can also provide a cost estimate for the investigation.
2
Inspection
With your agreement, we visit the site to examine the failure and its context. This includes collecting evidence, reviewing documentation, and retaining soil, water or crop samples and faulty parts for lab analysis. We provide informed, professional opinions where facts are unclear.
3
Conclusion
We share our findings and prepare a detailed report outlining our investigation, conclusions, risk assessments and recommendations. Our reports are CPR-compliant and suitable for both claimant and defendant instructions.
Case Study
JUST A REGULAR LIFT…
A crane operator in an industrial premises was performing a routine lift when a failure occurred resulting in a forklift truck weighing nearly 20 tonnes being dropped from a height of more than 15 metres, incurring a significant financial loss. Hawkins was appointed to investigate the incident.
Upon investigation, it was found that the entire transmission system of the crane, including a coupling and shaft, brake assembly and planetary gearbox had all failed catastrophically. Having determined that the crane was being operated within the design limits, the challenge was to determine which component within the transmission system had failed and why. Most of the damage caused was the result of an over-speed when the forklift went into free fall, and therefore a consequence of the initial failure.
A detailed metallurgical examination was performed, which established that the coupling, which had been replaced 2 years prior to the failure, was the component which failed first and that the brake and gearbox were consequential failures. Furthermore, Hawkins was able to recommend changes to the transmission system design that could improve safety and avoid the item being lifted from being dropped, should a transmission system failure occur again in the future.
SPEAK TO ONE OF OUR EXPERTS
Principal Associate, Managing Director (Acoustics)
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Related areas of expertise
Plant Pathology
Plant pathology is the study of any factors that cause a plant to express symptoms that are abnormal for the plant in the environment in which it is growing. These symptoms could be leaf spots, tissue discolouration, blight, wilting, stunting, dieback, cankers, tumours, abnormal growth, deformed plant parts or combinations of the above.
Contamination & Pollution
Fires, explosions, floods, water and chemical leaks, building collapses and other calamities can give rise to issues of contamination. It is not uncommon for machinery, building structures, stock etc. to become contaminated outside of the obvious areas where items are burnt, submerged, crushed or otherwise directly damaged during the incident.
Cargo Spoilage
Many agricultural cargoes such as maize (corn), wheat, soybeans and seedcake are shipped in bulk. Such cargoes have a limited safe storage period before their quality deteriorates. The subject of storage of agricultural cargoes is a complex one with many variables to consider.
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