Insider View: US crop market pressures all parties

While falling rates coupled with M&A activity have altered the
dynamics for reinsurers, primary carriers of multi-peril crop
insurance (MPCI) and crop hail cover have been pinched by regulated
rates for the former and the latter's increasing status as a
loss leader.
Reinsurers, meanwhile, have seen profits eroded as rates soften
because of the underlying economics of the market. Those forces
have also compelled recent M&A, such as the purchase of Crop
Risk Services by Validus Holdings, w