Growers Edge offers insurance products and new risk management tools for agricultural retailers, manufacturers, and lenders through a network of independent agents.
These plans aim to reduce growers' risks and costs when adopting newer innovative solutions and practices.
The Iowa-based company’s crop plan warranty programme – which provides compensation to growers if their crop yields fall short when using new agricultural products or practices – now covers over one million acres.
Over the past 12 months, it has also expanded its RangeAg farmland valuation tool to cover 144 million acres or over 50% of all federally-insured farmland in the US.
Climate impacts are undervalued
Many agricultural lenders, the company believes, undervalue weather, water, and climate risks in their financing decisions.
Traditional land valuation methods don’t consider the impact of the worsening effects of climate change, which can include unpredictable fluctuations in temperature and precipitation that increase the frequency and range of droughts, floods, insects, weeds, and diseases.
In light of this, the company has announced the acquisition of Denver-based AQUAOSO Technologies, which offers its services under the Agcor brand and provides mapping, data, and analytics software for agricultural lenders.
Growers Edge believes the Agcor data will complement its tools as it looks to build a “Zillow of farmland”, or the equivalent of a real estate marketplace for agriculture.
Agcor’s climate intelligence model, for example, which uses location-based data to determine future impact of weather, water, and other climate events, helps lenders better understand climate risks. This is part of a suite of software tools on the Agcor platform designed to help lenders streamline operations, better manage their portfolios, and build stronger relationships with customers.
Lenders, including Golden State Farm Credit, American AgCredit, and MetLife, use Agcor’s technology to quickly and accurately assess risk exposure and identify hidden revenue opportunities in their portfolios.
Agcor also intends to improves the agricultural lending process by integrating loan, collateral, appraisal, sales, and other lending data into a single source. Lenders use that data to evaluate and automate loan decisioning, appraisal, and portfolio risk management processes.
Together therefore Growers Edge and Agcor are confident they can help financial institutions to make faster, better-informed lending decisions.
Better-informed lending decisions
“The most accurate farmland valuations are backed by the most comprehensive data and realised by streamlined ag lending processes,” says Matt Hansen, CEO of Growers Edge.
“As we’ve built out advanced land valuation models at Growers Edge, Agcor has developed close partnerships with agricultural lenders by providing them with the analytical tools they need to build trust-based relationships with borrowers. The combined dataset, analytics engine, and suite of software tools will reshape the landscape of agricultural lending.”
In the last 12 months Growers Edge has also partnered with firms like Mondelez and PepsiCo to increase the adoption of environmentally friendly practices and supported a significant awardee of the EPA’s $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund.
Chris Peacock, CEO of AQUAOSO Technologies, adds the two companies share a commitment to ‘unparalleled’ precision and efficiency in the farmland valuation space.
“As we integrate our data and analytics tools into their existing valuation models, we’ll develop a more powerful software suite for our current and future customers.”
