In 2014, the Mace family of Nindigully, in the grasslands of southwest Queensland, made a claim against their multi-peril crop insurance (MPCI) policy, something no Queensland farmer had been able to do before. They had good planting rains, but conditions dried up, drought hit hard, and yields fell. When the Maces finally harvested, their revenue from the low crop yields was well below the insured amount, so they were able to recoup their losses.
The policy was part of a MPCI pilot by one of Australia’s first MPCI providers, Latevo, along with then-insurer Allianz (earlier this year Latevo entered into a Managing General Agency agreement with Assetinsure, with support from Swiss Re). Australia is one of the few developed nations without major MPCI policies, but in the past two years a number of new products aimed at the industry have been launched. If these new policies prove viable, and insurers can get enough growers to sign up, the premium writing potential in the Australianmarket is significant. Latevo wrote $1.5 million in premiums during the one-year pilot program. It’s a small figure, but still a significant one considering it was essentially the first time this kind of policy had been available to Australian farmers.NEW PLAYERS, BROADER COVER
Currently available MPCI policies only cover winter crops, such as wheat, barley, oats and canola. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the combined value of these crops for the 2012-2013 financial year was almost $12 billion. Previous studies on the viability of MPCI in Western Australia and nationally indicate that close to one in five farmers would purchase insurance if it were offered. As the name suggests, MPCI provides farmers with protection for a range of perils beyond the usual fire and hail protection currently available for crops. Allianz recently began offering its own MPCI product via its subsidiary Primacy. “Insured perils include drought, excessive rainfall, frost, wind, wildlife damage,” says Primacy Managing Director Bernie Mayers. Procrop Insurance, underwritten by CGU, offers MPCI that includes a weather trigger, meaning claims are paid after revenue loss and once rainfall drops below 50% of the local mean average. Latevo is offering a revenue-based model that is customised on an individual basis. “You can’t go in and buy this off the shelf,” says CEO Andrew Trotter. Beyond traditional MPCI, Celsius Pro offers farmers protection through parametric weather derivatives that pay out when specific weather conditions fall outside pre-agreed levels.SUNBURNT COUNTRY
Canada, the United States, the EU, Brazil and many other nations have all had various forms of MPCI for many decades, but they all invariably require significant government subsidies for premiums, with indemnity payouts frequently many times greater than premiums paid in by farmers. University of Sydney PhD candidate Jan Orlowski says that the problems posed by moral hazard and adverse selection are particularly difficult to mitigate when it comes to MPCI. A farmer could stop spraying for pesticides, or not fertilise sufficiently once he has comprehensive MPCI in place, and insurance models that rely on district averages mean adverse selection is high. “These, coupled with high administration costs are part of the reasons why MPCI products are difficult to introduce when some form of subsidy is not present,” Orlowski says.
While Primacy’s PrimeGuard cover is a traditional yield-based model, Latevo is touting its revenue-based Certainty Insurance. “We’ve designed a model that doesn’t need subsidies,” Trotter says. Growers have to pay around $5000 upfront for a five-year, independent financial audit. Production and grain marketing plans for the upcoming season are also closely analysed, but it means lower premiums. “Our premiums are a third what they would be if you had district rating,” Trotter says, adding that growers are seeing effective insurance rates of 5% of the effective sum insured.
