Risk 2011
Nigel Wellings
The following series of articles focus on Food and Politics from 2011 and beyond.
The key theme is change which brings new risks and from our perspective at Farmers & Mercantile Insurance Brokers, a need to constantly update and review insurance needs.
An increasing population and the drive for sustainability make a strong case for agriculture being a rewarding long term asset class for investment, with riskier short term speculative opportunities in soft commodities for the less risk averse.
The interest in renewables is politically motivated with the science of climate change still a very controversial subject. There are significant opportunities for farmers exploiting the alternative sources of income which arise from the renewable sector. If it had been suggested to our grandfathers that we would be harvesting the sun or the wind in 2011, then we would have been ridiculed.
Pressure groups continue to drive new environmental legislation. This creates new risks which must be insured. Climate change, political instability and changing social attitudes are leading to insurance companies taking a different view of risk on a macro scale.
The agricultural industry needs to be alive to all of these issues, and it needs to embrace change. As Lampedusa said “if you want things to stay the same, then things are going to have to change”.