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Review of the state of agricultural insurances in dairy farming
Climate change is affecting agricultural production, lowering yields, increasing costs, increasing yield variability and thus causing financial losses for farmers (Webber et al., 2018). There are also negative implications for dairy production (e.g. Bucheli et al. 2022, Gisbert-Queral et al. 2021). Adopting suitable agricultural practices (e.g. cooling systems etc) is necessary for mitigating financial losses due to weather events (e.g. Vroege et al. 2023, Bucheli et al. 2022). Despite this, farmers may still experience financial losses due to weather conditions. In this regard, insurances are an essential complementary management practice for securing farmers’ viable income. Therefore, understanding the current state of the available agricultural insurance is essential for improving their effectiveness in compensating for farmers’ financial losses. Although the literature provides a though examination on the state of agricultural weather insurances offered in crop farming (e.g. Bucheli et al. 2023) and there are selected approaches documented in the literature (e.g. Deng et al. 2007), there is no overview research on and available insurances for heat and drought related damages in the dairy sector.
The aim of this B.Sc. thesis is to provide a review of the literature on and the current state of weather insurances in European dairy farming focusing on heat and drought related damages. There are three main research questions:
1) What are the main weather risks that threaten dairy farming?
2) What are the main types of insurance solutions offered for these weather-related risks in dairy farming?
3) How the already existing insurance designs could be potentially improved?
**References**
Webber, H., Ewert, F., Olesen, J. E. et al. (2018). Diverging importance of drought stress for maize and winter wheat in Europe. Nature Communications 9(1): 4249.
Bucheli, J., Conrad, N., Wimmer, S., Dalhaus, T. and Finger, R (2023) Climate Risk Managent 41, 100525
Deng, X., Barnett, B. J., Vedenov, D. V., & West, J. W. (2007). Hedging dairy production losses using weather‐based index insurance. Agricultural Economics, 36(2), 271-280.
Gisbert-Queral, M., Henningsen, A., Markussen, B., Niles, M. T., Kebreab, E., Rigden, A. J., & Mueller, N. D. (2021). Climate impacts and adaptation in US dairy systems 1981–2018. Nature Food, 2(11), 894-901.
The aim of this B.Sc. thesis is to provide a review of the literature on and the current state of weather insurances in European dairy farming focusing on heat and drought related damages. There are three main research questions:
1) What are the main weather risks that threaten dairy farming?
2) What are the main types of insurance solutions offered for these weather-related risks in dairy farming?
3) How the already existing insurance designs could be potentially improved?
**References**
Webber, H., Ewert, F., Olesen, J. E. et al. (2018). Diverging importance of drought stress for maize and winter wheat in Europe. Nature Communications 9(1): 4249.
Bucheli, J., Conrad, N., Wimmer, S., Dalhaus, T. and Finger, R (2023) Climate Risk Managent 41, 100525
Deng, X., Barnett, B. J., Vedenov, D. V., & West, J. W. (2007). Hedging dairy production losses using weather‐based index insurance. Agricultural Economics, 36(2), 271-280.
Gisbert-Queral, M., Henningsen, A., Markussen, B., Niles, M. T., Kebreab, E., Rigden, A. J., & Mueller, N. D. (2021). Climate impacts and adaptation in US dairy systems 1981–2018. Nature Food, 2(11), 894-901.
Iordanis Parikoglou (iparikoglou@ethz.ch)
Robert Finger (rofinger@ethz.ch)