With ever more agricultural-risk-related data becoming available, supply and demand for agricultural index insurance in Latin America seems to be experiencing a renewed wave of interest. This is the takeaway from the XIV ALASA (Latin-American Association for the Development of Crop Insurance) Congress, held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in March 2016. As in the past, index products are attractive owing to their perceived objectivity and lean administration. Additional sources of data (remote sensing, increasing number of weather stations and yield statistics) now allow more complex and more sensitive parametric (i.e. index) covers to be designed. On a similarly positive note, more resources are being invested into analytics and methods to make these data useful for agricultural risk management. Unlike in the past, however, the considerable disadvantages of index products, namely basis risk and costs, were given greater consideration during the discussion. On two different panels, Munich Re has contributed its experience and shared its expectations: ”Parametric insurance products – lessons learned” and ”Use of satellite technology in agricultural insurance”, encouraging the employment of modern technology whilst keeping an eye on the expected benefit for agricultural producers in emerging and developed markets. Source - Munich Re