Canada funds $11.3M AI project to overhaul crop insurance delivery
Protein Industries Canada has launched a pilot program to redesign how crop insurance operates, linking federal government programs with private insurance through an AI-enabled framework. Agi3 Ltd leads the initiative, partnering with Agi3 Risk Services Ltd and Aon Reinsurance Solutions Canada. The project received $11.3 million in total funding, including $5.1 million from Protein Industries Canada.
The framework aims to connect public Business Risk Management (BRM) programs-such as government-backed yield and revenue insurance-with private insurance layers, parametric products, and supplemental covers. Rather than operating as separate systems, the model would let farmers access coordinated public and private options.
What the project will build
Work includes developing in-season risk analytics, product modeling, and decision-support tools for farmers, advisors, insurers, and governments. The system will use AI data analysis to improve transparency and coordination across existing BRM tools and private insurance capacity.
Ray Bouchard, president of Agi3 Ltd, said the project connects public programs, private insurance capacity, and field-level analytics to expand farmer choice and give governments and insurers better decision-making tools.
The problem it addresses
Canada's crop insurance system relies on federal-provincial BRM programs including AgriInsurance, AgriStability, and AgriInvest. Farmers have criticized these programs for complexity, coverage gaps, and slow payments-particularly as climate volatility and price swings have increased.
Private insurers have played a limited role in Canadian crop insurance compared to the United States, where private carriers deliver federally backed programs alongside their own products. Aligning public program design, farm data, and private risk appetite has been difficult, making it harder to build efficient layered structures.
Farmer and advisor impact
The project targets clearer, more practical conversations about coverage. Farmers currently manage droughts, floods, disease pressure, and input cost swings while navigating multiple BRM programs and private offerings. Better analytics should reduce confusion rather than add it.
Tyler Groeneveld, CEO of Protein Industries Canada, said strengthening farm-level processes supports the sector's broader goal of increasing made-in-Canada food products and positioning Canada competitively in global markets.
Reinsurance and capital implications
Aon Reinsurance Solutions Canada will examine how the analytical tools and framework design support capacity and capital decisions. A more predictable public-private model could create clearer pathways for private capital in Canadian crop insurance, including traditional treaty reinsurance, quota share structures, and alternative risk transfer mechanisms.
Consistent, reinsurance-ready outputs on portfolio behavior and tail risk could improve reinsurer confidence and stabilize capacity in a line exposed to weather correlation and systemic events. Better data around yield distributions and regional variability may support more granular underwriting and pricing.
Broader policy context
The project is delivered through Protein Industries Canada's AI for Insurance stream, funded under the federal Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy. Protein Industries Canada is one of five Global Innovation Clusters supporting a "Road to $25 Billion" vision for Canada's plant-based food and ingredient sector.
Policymakers view data-driven crop insurance as one element in building a more resilient and investment-ready agricultural ecosystem. If successful, the framework could offer insights for other countries seeking to modernize public crop programs, attract private capacity, and adapt to climate volatility.
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