Modernizing crop insurance to strengthen agricultural resilience

American agriculture stands at a turning point. Increasingly severe weather and water risks are driving billions in losses — more than $20 billion in 2024 alone — increasing farmers’ financial exposure and an urgent need for more adaptive insurance solutions. 

New EDF and AGree Coalition case studies highlight pilot-ready solutions designed to strengthen farm resilience and a roadmap for how private sector leadership and industry collaboration can accelerate the next generation of crop insurance solutions.  

Private sector innovation offers a critical path forward for developing and testing solutions that can help farmers adapt to growing climate and water risks. By leveraging new technologies and data, insurers and partners are developing new approaches to better assess risk, support resilient farming practices and enable adaptive crop rotations. These solutions can be tested and refined quickly and eventually be scaled through the Federal Crop Insurance Program (FCIP).  

Explore eight crop insurance solutions that are closing coverage gaps and helping farmers build resilience

Explore the eight case studies below, and identify where your organization’s expertise, relationships or resources can make the greatest difference. 

Collaborate to test and scale innovative crop insurance solutions  

These eight insurance initiatives are ready for the next stage of development — and that requires private sector leadership. Success depends on broad participation across the insurance and agricultural value chain. We invite insurers, reinsurers, agribusinesses and technology providers to engage directly with these eight pilots: stress-test the assumptions, co-develop the frameworks and partner with stakeholders working to bring them to market.

Farmers are being asked to manage more volatile weather while also trying new crops and practices to make their operations more resilient. So far, insurance hasn’t kept up, so they carry the risk of innovating on their own. These solutions show that coverage can be designed to reward resilience.

– Vincent Gauthier, Senior Manager, Agriculture

Over the coming year, EDF and partners will work with producer groups, the insurance industry, lenders and agribusinesses to advance insurance solutions that help farmers adapt to growing weather and water risks. 

Together we will: 

1. Surface insurance barriers to adaptation through producer group engagement. 
2. Disseminate insurance innovation best practices to support joint learning and success. 
3. Convene stakeholders to spur partnerships and achieve scale. 

We invite insurers, reinsurers, producer groups, lenders, agribusinesses and innovators to review the eight case studies and engage with EDF to help shape the next generation of agricultural risk management.