Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Innovative farm insurance to protect from volatility

Richard Counsell from Stable farm insurance
Richard Counsell from Stable farm insurance

An innovative commodity insurance product has been hailed by industry experts for the potential it could offer farmers looking to protect themselves from market volatility caused by Brexit.

The brainchild of Somerset farmer’s son Richard Counsell, Stable provides commodity insurance to food and farm businesses in 15 countries, protecting them from falling commodity prices and rising costs.

The first risk management platform of its kind outside the United States, Mr Counsell said he hoped the service’s simple premiums would help farmers build more certainty into their businesses, helping to protect them from risks posed by weather, markets and Brexit, while still taking advantage of any price increases.

At the platform’s launch in London, Mr Counsell said: “This is the first insurance product to be focused on agricultural commodities, and the fact that we have based it around insurance, rather than more complicated risk-management tools, means that it is accessible to everyone.”

The platform works by insuring multiple commodities around the world, spreading risk much like a traditional mixed farm.

Premiums are calculated using independent indexes from Defra and AHDB, while claims are paid out automatically, keeping costs low and eliminating paperwork for farmers.

In the UK farmers can use Stable to insure the price of milk, oilseed rape, milling wheat, feed wheat and feed barley, as well as lamb, pork, diesel and ammonium nitrate fertiliser. The minimum policy size is 10 tonnes of crops, 1,000kg of livestock or 10,000 litres of milk.

The opportunity to insure against increases in pig, poultry and dairy feed is set to be available within weeks.

Former Defra farm minister George Eustice and NFU deputy president Guy Smith both welcomed the launch of the insurance.

Mr Eustice said: “Richard and his team have created the world’s largest virtual mixed farm using years and years of data to create a platform on which farmers can insure the price of their milk in the same way they insure their tractors or their car.”

Mr Smith said: “Like with crop protection, it’s important for farmers that they have as many tools available to them as possible to help them tackle the challenges they face.”