Crop Insurance How Profitable are the Companies
October 9th, 2007 by David Graves
Doesn’t the crop insurance industry have a sweet deal compared to other lines of insurance?
Reimbursement of delivery expenses and the potential for underwriting gain does not over compensate for the risk taken by crop insurance companies. Crop insurance is a risky business, especially when compared to other lines of insurance and taking into consideration the nature of the risk associated with production agriculture enterprises relative to the risk in other insured ventures. Multiple studies have shown that crop insurance profitability is lower and more volatile than other lines of property and casualty insurance (Deloitte and Touché 2004, Price Waterhouse Coopers 1999 and 1997, Milliman and Roberts 2002). Indeed any analysis of Best’s Aggregates and Averages will demonstrate this fact. The Deloitte and Touché study reported a 10 year profitability measure of 7.9 percent for the crop insurance program with a standard deviation of 12.9 percent while other lines of property and casualty insurance ran a 12.7 percent return with an 8.9 percent standard deviation (1992 – 2002).