Potential Client Base for the Institute

The Institute will generate interest from a wide variety of clients who wish to either take courses or sponsor the cost of course attendance for others.

Some potential clients are:

• Senior government officials, managers, and technical professionals from under-developed and developing countries. There is currently considerable interest in crop insurance as a means to provide a stable public policy for agriculture that is acceptable from an international trade perspective. For example, recent crop insurance pilots or inquiries are underway in Argentina, Columbia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Korea, Turkey, Romania, Ukraine and elsewhere through agencies like the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the World Bank, and the Asia Development Bank, or funded by individual countries. In some countries, an insurance network exists while in others the infrastructure is rudimentary to non-existent. Data paucity, rural infrastructure, farm income, farmer literacy, and farmer understanding of insurance concepts are challenges that need to be addressed.
  
  
• Regional private sector insurance and reinsurance firms from under-developed and developing countries. These firms may have an interest in expansion in the agriculture sector, but limited personnel with knowledge of rating risk, appropriate product design, or underwriting practices to prevent moral hazard and anti-selection hamper the development and delivery of viable programs. The Institute will serve a vital role in transferring knowledge and technology to management and operations personnel as well as acting as a forum to build international networks.
  
  
• Senior government officials, managers, and technical professionals from developed countries with limited experience in crop and livestock insurance. Some developed countries (i.e., countries in the European Economic Community) are considering enhanced insurance-based public policy tools to stabilize farm income and comply with international trade agreements rather than the current forms of direct subsidization of commodity prices. These countries will benefit from interaction with consultants and experts from other countries with traditional and non-traditional crop insurance expertise. Data, infrastructure and rural incomes should not be a concern in these countries, but the Institute will provide easy access to cutting-edge technologies and concepts.
  
  
• Senior government officials, managers, and technical professionals from countries with experience in crop insurance. Clients from these countries will view the Institute as a personnel training and succession planning tool as well as a forum to interact with participants from other countries to expand experiences and network for future program development.
  
  
• Global insurance and reinsurance firms not actively accepting agriculture risk. Firms that are not familiar with agriculture and agriculture risk will benefit from Institute faculty experts and case studies presented within the course curriculum. The insights they gain along with interacting with prospective private sector or government program personnel will make them more receptive to agriculture risk retention.
  
  
• Global insurance and reinsurance firms actively accepting agriculture risk. Firms actively involved in accepting agriculture risk will use the Institute as a training tool for new recruits or those with insurance experience transferring into an agriculture risk unit. Through the Institute they will learn how prospective countries are progressing with crop insurance solutions as a potential risk management tool and interact with individuals that will be managing those programs.
  
  
• Government regulators, actuarial firms, and loss adjusting firms. Management and professionals from departments indirectly related to agriculture, but with responsibilities impacted by introducing crop insurance schemes (i.e., regulators, finance officials, senior agriculture policy makers), will benefit from exposure to concepts introduced in Institute courses and exposure to faculty members. Private actuarial firms will use the Institute for actuaries and actuarial students as a means to learn about the unique characteristics of agriculture insurance. Members of loss adjusting associations or firms may wish to participate to acquire a broader perspective on agriculture insurance designs. In some cases, representatives from firms doing loss adjusting for property/casualty insurance may wish to acquire agricultural insurance experience in order to expand into a new field.
  

This illustrative client base describes the anticipated initial market for the Institute curriculum. It also provides an initial focus for Institute development efforts. While participation in Institute programs is on a fee for services basis, different entities may sponsor participants to attend the Institute. CIDA, the Asia Development Bank, and the World Bank, currently donate funds to advance agriculture-related projects in under-developed and developing countries. Since crop insurance schemes are viewed as a means to stabilize agriculture for economic and social reasons and can act as a legislative and governance template for other segments of the economy, donor agencies can use the Institute to support the development of a local knowledge base and infrastructure. Private sector reinsurance firms, reinsurance brokerage firms or bond rating firms, and others associated with capital markets may utilize the Institute in a personnel training capacity or they may sponsor client participants from countries or insurance firms they currently support or wish to support.