FMH’s Automated Crop Reporting (ACR) process for enhanced acreage or production reporting benefits both agents and policyholders by bringing simplicity and speed to agent processes while bringing accuracy and efficiency to policyholder processes.
“My job is to represent the grower in facilitating the Federal Crop Insurance Program. Part of this process is to maximize the premium dollar of the grower,” said Shepard. “ACR helps the grower accurately report planted or PP acres, saving them premium dollars compared to conventional reporting methods – not to mention allocating production against precise acres, thus truing up APHs.”
In addition to accuracy, Shepard mentioned how the ACR process saves the grower time and paperwork.
“They didn’t have to fill out a handwritten Acreage Report with acres on each CLU. They sent the data to me and all they had to do was confirm the data was accurate and sign the acreage report,” he said, noting that most customers only needed one appointment with him to complete the acreage reporting process when using ACR.
Though ACR can ease agency processes, Shepard explained that getting started may take more time up front for the agent.
“This was my first year using ACR and, with most operations, the process took a little longer simply because of the ‘one time’ work that needs to occur, such as assigning units in mapping or splitting fields, to name a few,” he said. “However, it is easy to pick up on the fact that after the initial year, the process will be significantly easier and take less time – especially on the larger growers.”
Shepard wasn’t alone in his introduction to Precision Solutions. FMH assigns each agent a Precision Technology Specialist, backed by an in-house team of ACR specialists, to help agents become familiar with precision technology and the ACR process.
| FMH has folks on staff that are national leaders in the industry. When working out the kinks and going through my own learning process, this was invaluable. Marc Shepard, FMH Agent |
Shepard looks forward to continuing his Precision Solutions success in the next crop year, for both himself and his policyholders. “[My customers] love it – they already have the equipment necessary to record acres and with a few clicks of a button, they can send me all their acreage information,” he added. “Plus, it gives me a competitive advantage – none of my competitors are doing it.”
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NEW TO PRECISION SOLUTIONS? Here are some of the key things Marc learned when he started offering and using Precision Solutions:
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