Australian farmers are pushing to include all input costs and expand the number of risks covered in crop insurance.

WA Farmers Federation President Mike Norton says his members want to see expanded adverse weather conditions cover to include risks such as drought.

“We are covered for fire and hail damage, but we want to see more risks covered,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“This would help to cover the input costs when we have a severe season.”

WA grain growers have been hit this year with drought and severe frosts, leading to predictions the yield for the upcoming crop could be halved.

This comes as wheat is hitting record prices due to the drought in Russia, and as China looks to buy more wheat this summer.

Mr Norton says farmers are initially looking to just expand crop insurance for grain crops, and will tackle other areas of farming later.

“We have been working on trying to change crop insurance for about 10 years now, but the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has not been prepared to look at it,” he said.

ICA did not respond to a number of insuranceNEWS.com.au questions before our deadline.

A recent Productivity Commission report did say that including all risks in crop insurance is not viable, but that has not deterred the WA farmers.

“We accept changing crop insurance would need some underwriting from the Government,” Mr Norton said. “And we also understand each district is different and there would need to be strict criteria for such insurance.”

The WA Government has appeared to be lukewarm to changes, so the WA farmers are taking its campaign to the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) in Canberra.

NFF Manager Economics and Trade Charlie McElhone confirmed the two organisations have had preliminary discussions about changing crop insurance.

“We are still in the investigation stage, but it is not the first time we have looked at the topic,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“With environment policies changing, this does present an opportunity to look at the topic again and make politicians aware.”

Mr Norton says a recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) stance on food security means protecting crops is a long-term investment.

“This philosophy has been supported by the OECD so we need to start looking at underwriting food security.”

Mr McElhorne says the next stage is to understand what the organisation’s membership wants on crop insurance.

“We will be seeking feedback from our members which will help us see what the obstacles and the opportunities are,” he said.