The Rural Insurance Bill could be voted on after the parliamentary recess, FPA says.

The bill establishing a new legal framework for Rural Insurance could be voted on by the Federal Senate in the first week of August, after the return of parliamentary activities. This expectation was presented by the vice-president of the Parliamentary Agricultural Front (FPA) in the Senate, Senator Tereza Cristina (PP-MS). “I hope that in the first week after the recess, in August, we can vote and go to the sanction,” highlighted the parliamentarian after participating in the event “The Rural Insurance that Brazil Needs”, held this Tuesday (14), in Brasília. The meeting was promoted by the Center for Agribusiness Studies of the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV Agro) and by Meridiana, a political intelligence think tank, with the participation of the FPA. Despite the expectation of approval, Tereza Cristina expressed concern about the possibility of vetoes from the Executive Branch. According to the senator, work has been done to fully preserve the proposal, but some of the main provisions still face resistance from the government. “The first point is the mandatory nature of the resource. The resource needs to be guaranteed, and this is one of the issues about which the government still has doubts. I think it needs to be this way, because it brings predictability to both insurance companies and rural producers,” she explained. The senator also pointed out the allocation of resources to the Catastrophe Fund as a point of attention. “We are not creating a fund, but the resources need to be allocated to the Catastrophe Fund. This is also a point of attention,” she added. Bill 2,951/2024 stipulates that resources allocated to Rural Insurance should not be subject to budget cuts or freezes. This provision is considered fundamental by the productive sector, given the successive restrictions suffered by the program's budget in 2025 and 2026. The proposal also enables the Catastrophe Fund, created by Complementary Law 137/2010, but which has not yet become operational due to difficulties in allocating and operationalizing the resources.

Insurance companies from other countries can serve as a model.

Meridiana's CEO, Mônica Sodré, emphasized the importance of the topic for the economy. According to her, climate change has intensified climate risk, which she characterized as "one of the most challenging variables." Therefore, she criticized the current state of agricultural insurance: "A significant part of our economy operates under inadequate and insufficient conditions." Also during the event, the president of the FPA (Brazilian Parliamentary Front for Agriculture), Congressman Pedro Lupion (Republicanos-PR), echoed this sentiment, citing the sector's participation in the Brazilian economy—approximately 25% of Brazil's GDP. "It's impossible to have a thriving agricultural sector, as we have today, without insurance," he said. He recalled visits to countries with more structured agricultural insurance systems. In the case of the United States, Lupion highlighted that there are over 20,000 technicians in the fields for risk analysis alone, assessing the situation daily. “These technicians are constantly looking for alternatives, determining the necessary policy amount for a producer in a given area, for the crop they will plant, precisely to ensure that the more secure the policy, the cheaper the producer's credit becomes. And this is a two-way street; with less risk for operations, of course, it becomes much safer,” he exemplified. Another aspect of international models mentioned was related to the types of insurance. In the Brazilian case, Rural Insurance is more linked to climatic issues. However, experts and parliamentarians advocated expanding these protections to other forms of risk, such as price fluctuations. “Abroad, insurance is done not only for climatic issues, but also for commodity price fluctuations, for price fluctuations when the producer is going to sell,” stated the 2nd vice-president of the FPA, Senator Jaime Bagattoli (PL-RO). Furthermore, project 2.951/24 was pointed out as a starting point for the creation of a Rural Insurance structure similar to that observed in other countries. The president of the Instituto Pensar Agropecuária (IPA), Tania Zanella, advocated for a cultural shift regarding insurance. Most insurance policy purchases are still concentrated in the Southern region, and in many cases, producers do not prioritize this cost in their crop planning. "We need to implement this insurance culture in our country; it's fundamental," emphasized the president of the IPA.

Open Finance for agriculture could reduce insurance costs.

The coordinator of FGV Agro, Guilherme Bastos, argued that it is necessary to invest in technical studies to guide political decisions regarding Rural Insurance. According to him, other countries already do this, which helps optimize public spending. "What is lacking today is a lot of science to support these decisions," said the expert. He further added: "Resources exist, but it is necessary to look at it in a more integrated way." Along the same lines, the Institutional Coordinator of the FPA, Deputy Alceu Moreira (MDB-RS), indicated that another proposal being processed in the National Congress could help in the reformulation of Rural Insurance. Bill 3.123/2025 creates a system for sharing information from rural producers with financial institutions and insurance companies, the Open Finance of agriculture. The deputy explained that rural credit and insurance are related to risk. The greater the risk, the more expensive it is to borrow money and also to contract policies. "This proposal honors and benefits good payers who have fulfilled their obligations throughout their lives," he stated. The matter had its request for urgent consideration approved and is awaiting analysis in the Plenary of the Chamber of Deputies.

This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.