Agricultural Data and Insurance

With technological innovations and increasing understanding of farming practices, there are continual improvements in data quality and reductions in cost. These improvements can involve: (i) getting better data series such as more frequent, higher resolution satellite data (e.g., infrared technology to see through clouds); (ii) using different data sources in interesting ways (Box 2); (iii) innovations in satellite technology that drive down the cost of using maps and models to identify houses and roads and separate different types of crops in intercropped land; and (iv) using state of the art mobile phone technology in conducting CCEs, which can improve the accuracy and speed in which the data is collected for yield indices.