AIR Worldwide has released a new Crop Hail Model for Canada, the first probabilistic model for the industry, offering a complete overview of risk crop hail portfolios and the ability to assess different impact of hail on various crop types as well as larger losses than have previously hit the crop industry.
The new model boasts a catalog of events for crop hail with 10,000 simulations of potential annual hail activity on crop hail including extreme, but still probable events to allow re/insurers to assess larger losses than have been experienced by the industry so far.
Ken Doleman, president and CEO, Palliser Insurance Company, commented; “Hail is a significant peril in Canada, causing damage to crops as well as to property and vehicles.”
“A thorough understanding of this complex peril is evident in the new, sophisticated crop hail model from AIR.
AIR’s latest crop hail model can change its risk assessment according to crop type, modelling the unique impact of hail on barley, canola, corn, flax, lentil, oats, pea, potato, soybean, and wheat.
It includes loss risk for the coming season to crop hail contracts throughout Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.
AIR Worldwide, principal scientist, Dr. Jeffrey Amthor, commented; “AIR’s new crop hail model provides an in-depth understanding of where crop hail damage occurs in Canada and why and how crop damage varies by crop species and developmental stage.”
“While severe thunderstorms with large hailstones can destroy entire crop fields, even smaller storms with smaller hailstones can critically injure plants, tearing leaves. s or bruising stems, and thus put a dent in crop yield.”
AIR added that since Canada and U.S. models leverage the same 10,000 year hail catalog, U.S. model users now also stand to benefit from the expanded North American model.
Dr. Amthor continued; “The continuity will be particularly useful for insurers and reinsurers that underwrite exposures in both the U.S. and Canada and for brokers that prepare submissions for companies in both countries.
“Although straight hail insurance policies are currently written only for the Canadian Prairie provinces, the model accounts for six other Canadian provinces with crop exposure.
“In addition, because the AIR Crop Hail Model for Canada and the AIR Severe Thunderstorm Model for Canada use the same hail catalog, users of AIR’s CATRADER software can easily evaluate combined property and crop losses annually by province.”
