Insurer AmTrust signs agriculture data deal with Farmobile
US agriculture insurer AmTrust Ag has entered into an agreement with agricultural data provider Farmobile. The data company uses hardware to pick up statistics on factors such as fertiliser distribution and plant populations, which is used to determine crop insurance premiums. AmTrust is also taking an equity stake in Farmobile as part of the partnership. 

AmTrust Agriculture Insurance, a subsidiary of multiline P&C insurer AmTrust Financial, has signed on with insurtech Farmobile to leverage the latter's data collection platform for its crop insurance clients.

Farmobile’s hardware device, the passive uplink connection, transmits data to a central repository every second over cellular networks. If a connection is lost, the device stores data locally until connectivity is restored. This information is used to calculate crop insurance premium.

Soybeans are harvested with a Case IH Agricultural Equipment Inc. combine harvester in this aerial photograph taken above Princeton, Illinois, U.S., on Friday, Sept. 29, 2017. Soybean futures for November delivery rose 0.1% a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade after falling as much as 0.5%, the lowest since September 13. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

“Today crop insurance reporting is not a standardized process,” said Jeffrey Fenster, SVP at AmTrust. “The capabilities of Farmobile’s data collection system will allow AmTrust to innovate and provide additional time and cost savings to our crop insurance agents and farmers. They also standardize the data, make it portable and have an incredibly transparent sharing and accessibility model."

As part of the agreement, AmTrust also will take an equity stake in Farmobile.

“AmTrust is taking a leadership position in using digital agricultural advancements to aid in crop insurance reporting. We’re inspired by their vision to leverage technology to recruit agents and help farmers,” said Jason Tatge, CEO of Farmobile. “Together with AmTrust, we’ll be able to deliver a faster, cheaper and smarter workflow for crop insurance reporting through better data management. In short, we help farmers and agents create shared value through efficient reporting.”