Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) has launched a new business unit focused on helping the agricultural sector with its specific insurance needs.

Called the Farm Business Unit, SGI’s new unit is led by an agrologist. To better understand clients, the unit’s staff is trained in farming and ranching operations, crop production, farm vehicles, livestock, equipment, farm buildings and other assets.

“Over the last few years, people who work for the company move farther and farther away from their farm heritage, so they don’t necessarily have the understanding of farm operations that maybe our staff would have had 20 or 30 years ago,” SGI Canada Farm Business Unit director Blair McClinton told Global News.

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“[The unit] includes both the underwriting and the claims side of the business, so the underwriters put together the policies and the claims people handle policies when claims are made by our customers. This is to put together better service for our clients and for our brokers,” McClinton added.

According to data from the 2016 Census, the average value of Canadian farmland and buildings was up 39% compared to five years prior.


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