For Debbie Airey (pictured), area managing director at Brown & Brown in Lancashire, the agricultural insurance market is not especially complex. “Fundamentally it's a commercial combined policy with a few extras,” she said. The challenge is understanding the farming business well enough to place it properly.
That distinction matters more than ever as UK farming faces mounting pressure. Succession difficulties, inheritance tax changes and the increasing dominance of large-scale operations are reshaping the landscape for smaller farms. For brokers serving the sector, specialist expertise is becoming harder to replicate.
Agricultural insurance remains a highly specialist market with limited insurer appetite. Few insurers will write agricultural business, making both market access and technical expertise decisive factors for brokers competing in the space.
Airey was frank about what that means for generalist brokers, “It would be foolish to send somebody who hasn't a clue about the farming or the agricultural business out to see a farm, and it would stand out a country mile.”
“Once the farmer knew that you weren't understanding them, they'd have you running through every hoop.”
The risk for brokers who persist without that specialism is not merely reputational. “That's where you're going to have your errors and omissions,” Airey said. Most non-specialists ultimately step back from the market. Agricultural enquiries are routinely referred to specialist teams rather than handled locally.
Access to exclusive facilities further strengthens the advantage for brokers operating at scale. With relatively few insurers offering terms, being able to turn around quotations within 24 to 48 hours rather than several weeks can become decisive in winning business.
Traditional agricultural policies are increasingly being stretched by farms operating across multiple business activities, from holiday accommodation to renewable energy.
“Sometimes the diversification overtakes the farming,” Airey said, “and you really have to look at the actual policy and see how suitable it is.”
That increasingly means separating exposures into commercial combined structures better suited to businesses operating across multiple activities.
Management liability is one area where Airey sees growing relevance. Products capable of covering partnerships, limited companies and hybrid ownership structures under one policy are becoming increasingly valuable as farming families restructure operations for succession and inheritance tax planning purposes.
Livestock disease cover remains more limited in uptake. Airey estimated around 20% of her farming clients purchase it, largely because government compensation schemes already cover animal losses directly. The greater exposure is often the operational disruption surrounding an outbreak rather than the livestock itself.
Community presence, Airey said, is not a marketing strategy but a prerequisite for operating credibly in agricultural insurance. Maintaining visibility within rural communities through auction marts, agricultural shows and local professional networks remains an important part of specialist broking. Specialist teams across the UK also share expertise internally when unusual or complex risks emerge.
“You need to be able to walk the walk and talk the talk,” she said. “It's understanding the bigger picture and showing a genuine interest in their business. You can't fake it.”
That genuine presence sometimes extends well beyond what a standard client relationship would involve. Farming can be an isolating occupation, and Airey reflects that on some visits she is the first person her client has spoken to in days. "Sometimes I go out and sell insurance," she said, "but sometimes I'm a friendly ear, or someone to lean on, or somebody who understands the challenges."
That relationship-led approach remains difficult to replicate digitally. While the business is exploring how AI might support administrative processes, Airey does not see technology replacing the farm visit any time soon.
“I don't see that as a threat in any way – definitely not in the next decade,” she said. “Farmers really do appreciate the going out and understanding and taking an interest in their business.”
Airey said those pressures are accelerating structural change across the farming sector itself. Succession difficulties, inheritance tax concerns and rising operational costs are forcing some smaller farms to sell land or diversify beyond recognition.
“Many farmers, but not all, are asset rich, cash poor,” she said. “And if you did the hours at an hourly rate, they're not earning a fortune at all.”
Children of farming families increasingly do not want to continue operating the business, Airey added, despite the emotional and generational pressure many farmers feel to preserve a family legacy.
Once operations leave the industry, they rarely return, she said. The capital required to re-enter farming has become prohibitively high, particularly for those without an existing agricultural background.
For Airey, the stakes extend beyond the insurance market itself. “People genuinely don't realise what will happen when smaller farmers go,” she said. “Once the farm's gone, we are going to have a real problem on our hands.” Her view is unambiguous. “By the time they've gone, it'll be too late to say we got that wrong,” she said. “We need to be doing it now.”
That raises broader questions about the long-term shape of the agricultural market itself. As smaller farms disappear and diversified rural businesses become more common, agricultural insurance increasingly demands both specialist underwriting expertise and advisers embedded deeply enough within rural communities to understand how those risks are evolving in practice.
