Killer late frost, devastating drought: faced with climate risks that are becoming commonplace, the reform of crop insurance, which will come into force on January 1, aims to better protect farmers.
While barely 31% of French agricultural land is insured, the objective is to “create a real shock in the distribution of insurance”, affirms the government, which offers a system open to “all farmers, insured or not “.
This new system, defined by a law promulgated in March, “is based on national solidarity and the sharing of risk between the State, farmers and insurance companies”, according to the Ministries of Economy and Agriculture. .
Awareness with freezing in 2021
In replacement of the current systems, this “universal compensation scheme” has three levels: a first level is the responsibility of the farmer, who will bear the losses alone up to a deductible threshold of 20%; a second level comes under the private insurer (up to 50%); and a third level mobilizes public funds to respond to disaster situations.
Among farmers, the 2021 frost, which devastated vineyards and fruit trees, served as a “trigger”, says Joël Limouzin, in charge of the file at the majority agricultural union FNSEA.
“We are no longer faced with a hard blow every five or six years: it is now every year. After 2021, operators realized that they could no longer cope with climate change alone,” says Joël Limouzin.
The insurer, single point of contact for operators
For insurers, it was necessary to return to a minimum balance, without inflating premiums too much to remain attractive. “The reform responds well to these major issues,” said Delphine Ltendart, insurance director of Groupama, the main insurer for farmers with Pacifica (Crédit Agricole).
The insurer is placed at the center of this new regime, and becomes the single point of contact for operators for any claims declaration, whether the surfaces are insured or not.
The concern is already there among breeders, who dispute the method of assessment (by satellite) of damage in the meadow, synonymous with fodder losses. In field crops or in the vineyards, most of the farmers contacted are worried about prices and say they do not yet have enough information to make a choice.