WeatherBill expands product range to include cover for 2012 winter wheat crop

Weatherbill, the weather insurance specialists who offer a number of products such as their RainCheck insurance, have announced that they have expanded their Total Weather Insurance products coverage to include cover for the 2012 winter wheat crop. To date the Total Weather Insurance program only offered the U.S. agriculture industry cover for weather damage to corn and soybean crops.

Weatherbill say that the product offers ‘a new, technology-enhanced approach to insurance that protects farmers against weather-related crop loss, providing them with unprecedented profit protection’. The product aims to help farmers lock in profits by covering weather events that cause shortfalls in production and yield and works in combination with federal crop insurance. Weatherbills product can even cover farmers before the federal cover kicks in.

Claims payouts are sent automatically based on measured weather conditions at National Weather Service stations. The grower specifies the weather conditions they want covered when the policy is structured ranging from early stage drought, planting rain, freeze damage, spring drought, heat stress and spring/harvest rain.

It’s a well constructed insurance product for farmers, created with insight from agronomists to ensure it covers the risks that really impact the growing season. Weatherbill themselves work with hedging tools to underwrite their own weather risks assumed through their insurance programs it is understood.

“The increased frequency of extreme weather events coupled with dramatically increased input costs exposes U.S. wheat growers to greater financial risk than ever before,” said David Friedberg, chief executive officer of WeatherBill. “Now, for the first time, growers can protect their profits from weather-related losses not covered by federal crop insurance.”

Read the full press release here.