Which US companies are fighting to be first in drone technology?
It’s 2018 and technology is at the forefront of most industries. We’ve seen a dramatic uptick in the use of drones in Agriculture in the past two years. Especially in the insurance sector. Growers and insurers have created efficiencies with UAV’s/drones, the question is, what’s next? Many leading crop insurance companies have drone programs already, which one will define the framework?
AFBIS (American Farm Bureau Insurance Services, Inc) and Crop Risk Services participated in research on the ROI of drones in agriculture with the Indiana State University and many others. The results are clear, there is a cost benefit to using drones on the farm.
Crop Risk Services
Crop Risk Services already offers a drone imagery option for their claims process. “As soon as you file a claim, our UAVs can get a quick and accurate picture of the total damage. Flown by licensed pilots, the UAVs capture images of everything from wind-blown acres to hail damage to prevented planning acreage.” — CropRiskServices.com
This company sees value in high-resolution mapping but also in operational efficiency.“A lot of times they [adjusters] could spend hours walking through fields, trying to identify where damage is. [Now] you can throw a drone up in the air and accomplish in 10–15 minutes what it potentially took you 3–4 hours to do prior.”- Brian Young, President of Crop Risk Services (Insurance Business Mag).
QBE North America
QBE North America is showing the impact of drones in their annual report. They settled a 70,000-acre citrus tree claim from Florida with drone imagery, reducing a three‑month manual task to under three weeks.
QBE is no stranger to using drones to create efficiency on a large scale. They’ve deployed drones after natural disasters around the globe, significantly reducing the cost of claim assessments leading to reduced customer premiums. — ITnews
Country Financial
Country Financial, one of the first crop insurers to receive FAA exemption, is expanding their drone fleet from 4 to 12, and employing 15 licensed pilots. “We’re excited to be making drones a bigger part of our day-to-day processes,” said Eric Vanasdale, senior loss control representative for Country Financial. “A crop claims adjuster using a drone can scout three times as many acres as an adjuster on foot.”
Adjusters, insurers, and growers are embracing these changes. Alex Broeren, a Country crop adjuster says “Although it is difficult to see individual damage to crops at this stage, the view from above has been valuable in assessing the scope of damage from excessive precipitation.”
Regulators have yet to announce the particulars, but with leading companies testing new technologies, they’ve created value that’s hard to deny. These companies are leading a change that will impact agriculture insurance as we know it.
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