New insurance policies available from mid-June will pay claims to French farmers hit by low grass growth to help them cover additional feed costs.

Crédit Agricole, the leading bank among French farmers, has trialled the scheme with 300 customers for the past two years and is now launching it nationwide.

The insurer uses satellite images taken every couple of days to measure grass growth for each townland in the country and compares it with the average observed in previous years. Insured farmers can choose any level of deficit between 10% and 50% below normal local grass growth for the claims to kick in.

Crédit Agricole expects the average net premium to be around €10 per hectare. Rates vary with the level of protection chosen by each farmer and the local risk of adverse weather conditions.

The new grassland insurance is eligible to French government aid already in place for policies covering the loss of crops. Such private insurance schemes are expected to replace government emergency payments in cases of droughts and other extreme weather events under future CAP reform.

Crédit Agricole has set itself a target of 60 to 70% of French grassland insured by 2020. A by-product of the scheme beneficial to the wider farming community will be the free availability of local grass growth data published by the insurer.

French bank launches grass insurance

Crédit Agricole is offering new policies to farmers interested in insuring themselves against the risk of poor grass growth.