Live Insurance News

Climate Change and the Insurance Industry

August 2, 2014August 1, 2014 Note From The Editor

Climate change is a controversial issue, but mostly because of political and philosophical beliefs. The insurance industry has been well aware of the potential impact a changing climate can have on the global environment and has been encouraging efforts to mitigate this impact. Climate change has the potential to bankrupt the insurance industry, as the phenomenon would be responsible for the increasing frequency in major natural disasters that disrupt the global economy and put a strain on the world’s resources. The insurance industry has been working to steel itself against…

Crop insurance gets a boost from the USDA in 2014 Farm Bill

August 1, 2014July 31, 2014 H. Cutner

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has now announced broader options for farmers and ranchers. The USDA has now announced that it will continue with the implementation of the 2014 Farm Bill that are designed to increase the coverage options for crop insurance for farmers and ranchers. Among the new provisions that is going to be added is the Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO). That provision will be available through the federal crop insurance program and will be administered by the Risk Management Agency (RMA). It is expected to become effective during…

Crop insurance claims rapidly rise in Canada

July 9, 2014July 7, 2014 G. Turner

The flooding of farms in Saskatchewan and Manitoba is leading to massive losses of wheat and canola. The Canadian province of Saskatchewan is the largest producer of canola and wheat in the world, but it is currently seeing a massive number of crop insurance claims after its farms have experienced widespread flooding. The province is expecting that the claims will continue as many crops have already been seeded and flooded. According to the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp chief executive officer, Shawn Jaques, “It’s a very large area that’s impacted, so…

GMO crop maps may soon be drawn in Oregon

June 18, 2014June 18, 2014 Julie Campbell

This could change the way that these farms, and those that neighbor them, gain insurance coverage. Ahead of a vote in May that occurred in southern Oregon in which residents overwhelmingly decided to ban GMO crop use, farmers had already been in negotiations with a biotech company that has been growing these genetically modified organisms in the form of engineered sugar beets that were planted near their farms. The intention had been to come up with a way to be able to coexist peacefully through online mapping. This GMO crop…

Climate change insurance is being scooped up by Chinese farmers

April 28, 2014April 28, 2014 Julie Campbell

Millions of growers have been persuaded by policymakers to cover themselves against losses from this phenomenon. Chinese farmers are more than aware of the damage that extreme weather can cause to a crop, and they are now protecting themselves with climate change insurance in the hopes of reducing the losses that they experience if severe weather should strike. Last year was a lesson that was hard learned by farmers in China, when extreme weather devastated crops. Only weeks before the rice harvest, last summer, paddies were struck by extreme weather…

Crop insurance subsidy limits applauded by reformers

October 17, 2013October 18, 2013 Julie Campbell

Those in favor or restrictions of this nature gave their praise to a U.S. House of Representatives vote. Reformers for the crop insurance subsidy gave their approval to a vote that was held by the U.S. House of Representatives that would require the wealthier growers to have to pay more in order to take part in the federally subsidized program. This is also the first time that an eligibility limit has been placed on this highly expensive program. The federal crop insurance program is already costing the country $9 billion…

Crop insurance products prepared for growers in the Philippines

September 11, 2013September 9, 2013 H. Cutner

The World Bank’s private sector funding arm is working on new protection for farmers. The private sector funding branch of the World Bank, The International Finance Corp. (IFC), is currently working with a number of its partners in order to create new crop insurance products that are meant to provide farmers in the Philippines with protection against the considerable losses that they incur from typhoon damages. It has been estimated that farmers in the country have lost $2.5 billion to damaging weather since 2009. The IFC reported this statistic, last…