Farmers Edge, Munich Re announce partnership to implement parametric weather insurance solutions

Date:09-17-2020

Winnipeg, MB & Munich - Farmers Edge, a global leader in digital agriculture, recently announced a strategic collaboration with Munich Re, a leading reinsurer, to pave the way for data-driven parametric weather insurance solutions.

The trailblazing deal centers on a unique digital infrastructure that combines highly precise, site-specific datasets with science-based analytics and Artificial Intelligence to transform traditional parametric coverage models into scalable and profitable solutions for all stakeholders; growers gain top quality crop protection and instant payouts while insurers gain key insights and tools to more confidently mitigate risk, automate claims, and provide faster payouts to customers.

Agricultural parametric insurance covers areas that are excluded from all-risks indemnity policies, such as excess moisture or heat, to protect growers against unpreventable high-intensity and catastrophic losses. These policies are designed to offer claim payouts as soon as events are triggered, eliminating the typical loss adjustment and reporting period. However, these parametric weather policies may carry significant risk across data-sparse regions due to insufficient publicly available data.

The collaboration puts Farmers Edge and Munich Re at the forefront of insurance innovation, combating risks associated with parametric coverage while also establishing business resiliency amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Farmers Edge risk management platform-FarmCommand-provides a powerful avenue to securely automate all data transactions between growers and insurers, resulting in lower administrative costs and improved scalability. The platform delivers hyper-local, high-density insights, fueled by AI and robust datasets, such as daily satellite imagery and site-specific weather conditions, to detect claims and trigger instant payouts. Its Smart Claim and Smart Reporting tools power automated record-keeping, claim predictions and notifications, claim adjustments, crop classifications, and fraud detection.

One crucial piece are the Farmers Edge weather stations installed directly on the farm. This acute level of precision, combined with Munich Re's vast reinsurance expertise, provides growers with secure protection that mirrors the impact of weather events as they occur on their fields. While traditional claims can take months, these new, parametric solutions are designed to be completely automated by data and InsurTech features. FarmCommand houses and analyzes all data to detect and trigger claims automatically, creating more utility, security, and transparency for all stakeholders.

"As a farmer myself, it was paramount for us to provide a solution to help growers across data-sparse regions access more protection," says Wade Barnes, Farmers Edge CEO and co-founder. "By working together, we're able to bring the highest degree of accuracy available and couple it with intuitive tools to deliver instant payouts and superior risk management solutions that support global sustainability. This collaboration completes the missing piece of the longstanding parametric puzzle-controlling risk with better data-and gives insurers a clearly defined competitive advantage to attract new customers and enrich existing relationships."

"Protecting agribusinesses against risks arising in agricultural production has been a longstanding tradition within Munich Re. Our aim is to improve the access to required coverages by extending the boundaries of insurability," says Rainer Hartmann, Head of AgRisk Partners in Munich Re. "The collaboration with Farmers Edge brings an important piece to the table. The performant accessibility to accurate data allows the design of individual coverages on a parametric basis addressing the specific risks and helping commercial operations to manage their exposures."