AAIS recently attended the IRMI Agribusiness Conference (AgriCon), the premier event for insurance and risk management professionals specializing in the exposures and coverage needs of farms and agribusinesses. Among the many interesting and informative sessions, AAIS Product Development Specialist Hope King highlighted two topics particularly near and dear to AAIS and our Members.
Using Blockchain to Boost Food Security?
Insurance Futurist Rob Galbraith guided attendees through a session titled Blockchain Chicken Farm: How Emerging Technology Is Improving Food Security.
Blockchain has been taking the insurance industry by storm, providing new and innovative ways to store, share, and leverage data. Mr. Galbraith described a blockchain chicken farm concept to support food security as just one of the potential applications specific to agribusiness. In this scenario, sensors produce data on chickens’ health and maintenance as they move from location to location. This can ultimately facilitate tracking of poultry in the event of disease or contamination.
Galbraith’s presentation also focused on other ways blockchain can help by capturing data from remote users managing agribusiness operations. Further, blockchain can support the development of microinsurance products in developing economies as well as offer parametric solutions.
AAIS & Blockchain
AAIS developed openIDL, a blockchain/distributed ledger platform which is now being managed as a Linux Foundation Project. The nonprofit Linux Foundation is the world’s leading home for collaboration on open-source software, open standards, open data, and open hardware. It includes the AgStack Foundation, the open source digital infrastructure project for the world’s agriculture ecosystem.
For more information, visit: https://aaisonline.com/openidl
Cannabis and Agribusiness Risks
CMR Consulting President Chantal Roberts led a session on When Cannabis and Agribusiness Collide. Ms. Roberts level set from the start by pointing out that the emerging cannabis market is subject to rapid changes. This has presented challenges in both insurance and claims handling for agribusiness insureds. For example, challenges arise from definitions — what exactly are the differences between cannabis, hemp, and marijuana?
Roberts then discussed key risk exposures for hemp and marijuana, including property risks from mold and pesticides, smoke, theft, and cross-pollination between crops. Emerging loss location and liability issues are complex, with liability exposures arising from everything from cross-pollination to farm-to-table events.
AAIS CannaBOP Continues to Grow
AAIS’s CannaBOP program, introduced in 2018, was the nation’s first standardized insurance program specifically designed for commercial cannabis exposures. It included cannabis dispensaries, storage facilities, distributors, processors, manufacturers, and private cannabis testing facilities and laboratories. CannaBOP has grown with new endorsements and expansions and is approved in California, Colorado, and Nevada.
For more information, visit: https://aaisonline.com/cannabop
To learn more about Agribusiness Insurance please visit our Farm & Ag page on AAISonline or contact an AAIS Farm & Ag advisor.