Crop insurance in Germany: protecting the harvest against hail, frost and drought
If you farm in Germany, a single hailstorm in June or one night of frost during blossom can wipe out a year of income while rent, seed and machinery costs keep running. Classic hail insurance covers hail and little else. Multi-peril policies can add storm, heavy rain, frost and drought, and several German federal states now pay up to half of the premium for them.
For many farms it is not. Hail remains the most common insured peril, but late frost in fruit and wine growing and drought in arable farming now cause losses a hail policy never touches. Whether the upgrade pays depends on your crops, location and reserves. Since several federal states started subsidising multi-peril cover, the extra cost has come down considerably for eligible farms.
Hail cover versus multi-peril cover
Hail insurance is the oldest form of crop insurance and is widespread among German farms. It pays for loss of quantity, and often quality, caused by hail on standing crops. Many policies offer storm, heavy rain and severe frost as add-ons.
Multi-peril insurance goes further and bundles several weather perils in one contract: late frost for orchards and vineyards, and increasingly drought for arable land. Because these events hit whole regions at once, the policies use larger deductibles, indemnity caps and sometimes weather indices instead of a loss assessment on each field.
Subsidies are a matter for the federal states
There is no nationwide subsidy in Germany. Each federal state decides for itself, and Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia, Thuringia and Lower Saxony together with Hamburg and Bremen, among others, now pay up to 50 percent of eligible multi-peril premiums. Baden-Württemberg extended its scheme to hail and hops from the 2026 application year. A federal scheme from 2027 is being discussed, but had not been adopted at the time of writing.
Not every policy qualifies. Bavaria, Thuringia and Lower Saxony, for example, require a deductible of at least 20 percentage points of the loss ratio and an indemnity of no more than 80 percent of the sum insured. Bavaria also caps the eligible value per hectare, at 5,000 euros for cereals and 30,000 euros for fruit and wine. Farms apply to the state authorities themselves, within fixed deadlines; in Rhineland-Palatinate the 2026 deadline was 30 September.
Getting the sum insured right
The sum insured is built from area, expected yield and price for each crop. Set it too low to save premium and every claim is cut accordingly. Set it too high and you pay for a harvest the field will never produce. For wine, fruit and hops it is worth reviewing the values every season.
German insurance tax works differently for crops: instead of 19 percent of the premium, it is 0.3 per mille of the sum insured per year for hail, storm, severe frost, heavy rain, flooding and, since 2020, drought.
What is covered
Hail damage to standing crops, quantity and depending on the policy quality
Storm, heavy rain and flooding as add-ons
Late frost and winter kill, especially for orchards and vineyards
Drought, as yield cover or index cover
Extra cost of resowing after early damage, depending on the policy
Arable crops, grassland, vegetables, fruit, wine and hops under separate terms
What is not covered
Losses below the agreed deductible
Falling market prices after a normal harvest
Plant disease and pests unless expressly included
Poor husbandry or neglected crop care
Crops harvested before the loss adjuster has inspected them
Buildings, machinery and stored produce, which need their own cover
Who needs it
Arable farms with a high share of rented land or borrowed capital
Fruit growers and winemakers for whom one frost night can cost the year
Vegetable and specialty crop growers with high values per hectare
Farms in regions with frequent early summer drought
Young farmers and farms with limited reserves after investing
Who does not need it
Farms spread widely across crops and sites with substantial reserves
Pure grassland farms with their own fodder reserve that do not want drought cover
Wheel of misfortune
Spin the wheel of bad luck
Six things that really happen. The wheel picks yours and shows who pays.
Cost:
Budget policy Strong policy
See all six cases
Hailstorm just before harvest, much of the field's annual revenue. Budget policy: pays, Strong policy: pays. The classic case. A loss adjuster assesses the field and you are paid on the value per hectare less the deductible.
Late frost during blossom, up to the whole crop. Budget policy: does not pay, Strong policy: pays. Hail cover pays nothing. Only policies with frost cover respond, and they must be in place before the frost period.
Drought summer on arable land, a third of the harvest or more. Budget policy: does not pay, Strong policy: pays. Drought is only insured with explicit drought cover, either as yield cover or through a weather index.
Heavy rain washes out the seed, resowing and lost yield. Budget policy: pays in part, Strong policy: pays. Many hail policies only include heavy rain as an add-on. Strong policies also pay the extra cost of resowing.
Loss just under the deductible, a few percent of the yield. Budget policy: does not pay, Strong policy: does not pay. Anything below the deductible stays with the farm, even under the best policy.
Full harvest, falling prices, the lost revenue. Budget policy: does not pay, Strong policy: does not pay. Crop insurance covers weather damage to the yield, not market risk.
What it costs
Premiums are charged as a rate on the sum insured for each crop and vary widely with location, crop and perils chosen. Hail rates differ a lot by region, and frost and drought cost considerably more. There are no independently published per hectare prices to compare, so we do not quote example figures. Where a state subsidises, the net premium falls by up to half.
What drives the premium
Crop and value per hectare
Location and loss history of the area
Perils insured: hail only or multi-peril with frost and drought
Deductible and indemnity cap
Your own claims in recent years
Eligibility for your state's subsidy
The premium is only fixed once the cropping plan, areas and sites are known. The farm applies for the subsidy itself.
The policy levels on the market
01
Hail insurance
Hail on all declared crops, often with storm and heavy rain as extras. Low premium and a proven field assessment.
02
Multi-peril insurance
Hail, storm, heavy rain and frost in one policy, eligible for subsidy in many states if deductible and cap meet the rules.
03
Multi-peril with drought or index
Adds drought as yield cover or via a weather index tied to a defined station. Higher premium, but protection against the costliest area-wide risk.
How to recognise a good policy
Criterion
Minimum standard
Strong policy
Why it matters
Perils insured
hail only
hail, storm, heavy rain, frost and optional drought
Many of the costliest recent losses were not caused by hail.
Quality loss
quantity only
quantity and quality
For fruit, wine and vegetables quality drives the price.
Deductible
high and fixed
selectable and compatible with subsidy rules
The wrong deductible rules out the state subsidy.
Value per hectare
flat rate
set per crop and adjustable each year
A low value cuts every claim.
Resowing
not covered
extra costs of resowing included
Early damage can often be rescued by resowing.
Drought cover
none
yield or index cover with a transparent weather station
With index cover the station location decides whether you are paid.
Insurers on the German market
Crop insurance in Germany is a specialist market with few carriers. Vereinigte Hagel is the largest specialist, and a number of property and regional insurers also write hail and multi-peril cover. Listed are insurers under German federal supervision registered for this class. This is a market overview, not a statement about who we work with.
Insurer
Background
Vereinigte Hagel
crop specialist based in Giessen, hail, multi-peril and drought index
R+V
co-insurer in Vereinigte Hagel's crop business since 2015
Allianz
hail and multi-peril cover, successor to the former Münchener und Magdeburger Agrar
Versicherungskammer Bayern
Bavarian public insurer offering hail and multi-peril cover
Mecklenburgische
mutual insurer based in Hanover with hail and multi-peril cover
VGH
public insurer in Lower Saxony, multi-peril cover under the state scheme
Basic cover for all crops, with loss assessment in the field.
Multi-peril insurance
Several weather perils in one policy, the form the states subsidise.
Frost cover for fruit and wine
Late frost during blossom, usually part of a multi-peril policy.
Drought index
Pays on a defined weather measurement, without inspecting each field.
Natural hazards cover for buildings
Related class: farm buildings and stores against heavy rain and flooding, not part of crop insurance.
Myth or truth
True or false?
Five things people say about this insurance. Guess first, then see the answer.
In a drought the government will step in anyway.
This is false.
There is no entitlement. Emergency aid is decided only in exceptional years, paid late and usually covers part of the loss. German states now deliberately back subsidised insurance instead.
Several German states pay part of the premium.
This is true.
True. Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia, Thuringia and Lower Saxony, among others, pay up to 50 percent of eligible multi-peril premiums.
Hail insurance also covers frost.
This is false.
No. Frost is a separate peril, covered only by multi-peril policies or an explicit add-on.
Crop insurance carries very little insurance tax in Germany.
This is true.
Correct. Instead of 19 percent of the premium, the tax is 0.3 per mille of the sum insured per year, for hail, storm, severe frost, heavy rain, flooding and, since 2020, drought.
Any multi-peril policy qualifies for a subsidy.
This is false.
No. States usually require a deductible of at least 20 percentage points and indemnity of at most 80 percent. A policy without these features gets no subsidy.
Common mistakes
Leaving values per hectare unchanged for years
Missing the state subsidy deadline
Choosing a deductible that rules out the subsidy
Harvesting or ploughing in before the loss adjuster has visited
Not checking which weather station an index policy uses
Not reporting new fields or changed cropping
Frequently asked questions
Questions and answers
Frequently asked
Is crop insurance compulsory in Germany?
No, it is voluntary.
Banks and landlords do increasingly ask how a farm manages weather risk when larger investments
are involved.
Which German states subsidise multi-peril insurance?
Among others Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia,
Thuringia and Lower Saxony jointly with Hamburg and Bremen,
each paying up to 50 percent of the eligible premium.
Each state sets its own rules on crops, perils and deadlines.
Is there a federal subsidy?
Not so far.
The German Farmers' Association is calling for a nationwide scheme from 2027 under the joint
federal and state agricultural structure programme.
It had not been adopted at the time of writing.
What does a deductible of 20 percentage points mean?
Twenty points are deducted from the assessed loss ratio.
With a 50 percent yield loss you receive 30 percent of the sum insured.
Many state schemes require at least this deductible.
How much insurance tax is payable?
For hail, storm, severe frost, drought,
heavy rain and flooding on crops it is 0.3 per mille of the sum insured per year,
far below the standard 19 percent of the premium that applies to most other insurance in Germany.
How does a drought index work?
It pays when a defined weather value, such as rainfall at a named station over a set period,
falls below a threshold.
There is no assessment on your field.
The downside: if it rains at the station but not on your land, nothing is paid.
When do I need to take out cover?
It depends on insurer and crop.
Frost cover for orchards and vineyards must be in place before the frost period,
hail cover can often still be arranged in spring.
Subsidy applications have their own state deadlines.
Can I get the paperwork in English?
Policy terms and subsidy forms are issued in German.
We explain the terms in English and help you fill in what is needed.
Why use a broker?
Because perils, deductibles, values per hectare and index rules vary widely,
and subsidy eligibility depends on exactly those details.
We obtain quotes, check them against your state's rules and support you with claims.
We are paid by the insurer.
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