Cropping

Grants to boost opportunities for multi-peril crop insurance

Grain Central, February 14, 2017

QUEENSLAND grain growers will have further options to protect their investments with the Queensland Government announcing new research grants of up to $100,000 for projects that collect data to assess the viability of multi-peril crop insurance.

Bill Byrne

Bill Byrne

Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries Bill Byrne said crop insurance and other risk management options currently had a low level of uptake in Queensland and Australia.

“This has been attributed to the lack of data against which insurers can assess and price risk, which makes crop insurance premiums more expense than they otherwise may be,” he said.

“These new research grants of up to $100,000 will support projects that collate and/or interpret agricultural production data on a regional or industry/crop specific basis.

“This data will then be publicly available and could be used in the assessment and development of risk management products such as crop insurance.

Mr Byrne said some data existed at the individual producer level but it hadn’t been collected or collated to provide aggregate data.

“These research grants will help address this issue. Eligible applicants are invited to submit proposals to receive grant funding of up to $100,000 (excluding GST), which may be a part or all of the financial cost of the research project,” he said.

“Applications will be assessed by a panel of officers from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries who will make recommendations to me as to successful applicants.

“Successful applicants will submit a completed report, together with the underlying macro data, which will then be in the public domain and potentially used by industry and insurance providers in the development of insurance products catering to that specific industry.

“This is a positive development for our crop producers as access to risk management products such as crop insurance is one way that they can manage risks such as frosts, drought, floods or pests.”

For further information on these grants, including the application process, visit https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/business-trade/development/crop-insurance-research-grants or phone 13 25 23.

Source: Queensland Government

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