Insurers and reinsurers operating in the crop protection sector face a $15 billion payout due to this year’s severe drought conditions in the US, but say the full picture of the losses likely won’t emerge until February of next year.Agricultural economists in Illinois and Montana estimate that the crop insurers will pay out all of the $11 billion in premiums they collected in 2012, plus another $2 billion to $3 billion. Catastrophe modelling firm AIR Worldwide backed up that estimate.Ace operates one of the nation’s largest crop insurers, Des Moines-based Rain and Hail. Other leading insurers in the sector include American Financial Group, QBE and Wells Fargo & Co. According to its earnings report put out on October 23, Ace incurred a $147 million loss in the third quarter alone.Several other re/insurance companies with ties to Bermuda have been affected as well. Third quarter earnings results indicate estimated losses at PartnerRe ($85 million), Endurance Specialty Holdings ($63 million), White Mountains ($45 millions), Allied World ($40 million), Axis ($40 million), Alterra ($23 million), Validus ($22 million), EverestRe ($33 million), Flagstone ($20 million), Platinum ($17.6 million), RenaissanceRe ($8 million).Some companies reported losses as a total sum but did not break down the specific amount attributed to crop insurance. AIG reported $261 in losses from crop losses and Hurricane Isaac. Montpelier Re reported a loss of $16 million largely due to crop losses. And Hanover Re reported $7.2 million in losses much of that tied to the drought.The National Crop Insurance Services estimated on October 10 that insurers had already paid out $2 billion in claims. Insurers and the government reportedly are waiting until the harvest is complete to estimate total losses, but reports from the Midwest states where the drought was most severe indicate a steep drop in harvests.Live Trading News, a commodities trading newsletter, reported that yields on corn, which was most affected by the drought, plunged 44 percent below their five-year average in Missouri and were 42 percent down in Illinois. Indiana saw a 30 percent decline while Iowa, which is the nation’s largest corn-producing state, saw yields fall 19 percent.The worst drought to hit the US in more than 70 years pushed corn prices to record highs, which in turn has increased the payout demands upon insurers.Ace said in July that it expected a 19-cent per share hit to its earnings in the third quarter due to drought-related payouts. The insurer has not revised that estimate as harvests are concluding.