Evaluatie Regeling brede weersverzekering

Samenvatting

The agricultural sector has limited opportunities to avoid risks of weather events for open field crops.
However, damage caused by extreme weather conditions (such as heavy rain or hail) can have a
major impact on the financial position of the farms and the whole agricultural sector.
Before 2002 the Dutch government regularly compensated damage caused by extreme weather
events. Nowadays the government encourages farmers to participate in a weather insurance scheme
by granting a premium subsidy, thus trying to create a commercial market for weather insurances.
This report evaluates the premium subsidy. The core questions are first if the subsidy has led to a
commercially attractive weather insurance scheme and second if the premium subsidy has reduced the
number of requests for compensation and the amount. The answer to the first question is no; due to a
lack of empirical evidence, there is no clear objective answer to the second question.