How brokers can harvest insurance capacity for farmers

One key element of creating a farm-specific MGA was the need to introduce proprietary technologies. Brokers of late have expressed concerns about the proliferation of new portals, which many see as a burden.

“The first thing is acknowledging it is a burden. You’re introducing new technology that needs to be learned. That’s another step in [the broker’s] day, so let’s call that out for what it is,” says Robin Shufelt, CEO of First Acre Insurance, a recently launched farming MGA.

“To me, the key to that is asking, ‘Why?’ What is going to make a broker use your portal? What’s the why behind it? Is it creating efficiencies for the carrier or the MGA from an underwriting perspective? Is it adding value to the broker’s and client’s experience? As an industry, we need to challenge ourselves to make sure we’re answering that question correctly.”

For brokers, filling out applications may not be the most exciting way to complete an insurance submission, but it is convenient if the broker is able to send an application to multiple carriers, as opposed to entering information into different portals.

“It’s really important to hear from your customers and understand their pain points when you’re using a digital platform. I think we need to really value brokers’ time. Providing quick eligibility assessments is one way to approach this,” says Shufelt.

“A broker using our platform will know within the first couple of screens if they’re going to get a quote at the end. We’re not going to make them input all that information and not get a quote.”

And that goes beyond underwriting eligibility.

“Let’s look at process: does the platform include a stage when the application goes to an underwriter and sits on their desk for a few weeks? Or does it go all the way through?” she asks.

“To us, it’s important that a broker can take [our digital platform] out to a farmer, sit at their kitchen table, and get an underwriting decision. They can generate a quote, they can bind [the policy], they can issue it, the farmers can pay for it, and the clients can get their policy documents — all in real time.”

Transparency is key

As such, transparency is key to the effort to partner with brokers and grasp their pain points. It’s important to explain to brokers why certain clients might not be eligible for coverage. Doing that can open a dialogue about the challenges and lead to potential solutions to the client’s problem.

“I would even take it a step beyond that. What value-adds can you contribute? We want to give brokers and farmers tools to make their lives easier when they’re evaluating a farm risk,” Shufelt says. “For example, we can find any rural property in Canada and get the land lot legal information and all the coordinates for our broker. This doesn’t sound like it might be a huge problem, but it actually was.

“From there, we create a whole site map. The broker can show the farmer their farm, they can pinpoint their different buildings, they can calculate their risk, they can see where the tree lines are, they can geocache things they want insured, and the farmer can use that information however they want.”

The MGA also created a machinery valuation tool in response to both client and broker concerns about the high cost of farm machinery.

“The price is fluctuating all the time, given the U.S. dollar, the inflation rate, or how the machinery is being used. So, we’ve created a new tool to help determine farm machinery values,” she says. “The broker can sit down with the farmer, input the farmer’s equipment into the new tool, and the tool will reveal the machinery’s auction value, the retail value, the market value, so that the farmer knows whether they are insuring it to value or not.

“As the insurance provider, we know whether we can insure the machinery, because we know what the value is. We’re hoping the extra burden of using a new portal is worth it because we’re providing brokers with extra tools to make their jobs easier.”

This article is excerpted from one appearing in the February-March 2024 print edition of Canadian Underwriter. Feature image courtesy of iStock.com/TrueMidwest