Inszone Insurance Services has acquired Aviza Insurance Agency, a 60-year-old farm and agribusiness specialist based in Coldwater, Michigan, extending the national brokerage's push into agricultural coverage in a state where recent storm losses have kept farm risk in sharp focus.
Aviza, founded in 1966, has served Coldwater and the surrounding Tri-State region with farm, commercial, home, auto and health coverage. Current owner Jake Eby took over the agency in 2016 from founder Dave Aviza and built much of its book around farm and commercial risk. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Eby said the decision to sell came down to finding a partner that could protect his existing clients while giving him a path back to agent work rather than ownership duties. "What drew me in were my first conversations with Geoff Hatfield [president of Inszone]," Eby said. "For me, it came down to knowing I can continue to take care of my insureds now while also knowing someone will be there for them in the future whenever I decide to move on."
The deal lands as Michigan farmers continue recovering from a run of weather losses. The USDA's Farm Service Agency designated 13 primary Michigan counties as natural disaster areas after severe winter storms struck the state in late March 2025, opening emergency credit for producers rebuilding equipment, livestock and farm buildings. That followed an earlier USDA designation covering 15 Michigan counties hit by drought, excessive rain, and frost and freeze conditions through 2024 and into 2025.
Nationally, demand for farm risk protection has been climbing in step. Farmers purchased a record 2.54 million crop insurance policies in 2025, covering 561 million acres and providing more than $159.3 billion in liability protection, according to National Crop Insurance Services. Ranchers added a further $40.2 billion in livestock coverage liability the same year.
The Aviza deal follows Inszone's acquisition of James R. Vozar Insurance Agency in April, which brought agricultural expertise from three Michigan offices into the brokerage's network, and its September 2025 purchase of Parker-Haskins Insurance in Kansas, which added crop insurance capability. Michigan is now home to several Inszone locations following a string of regional tuck-ins over the past two years.
Chris Walters, CEO of Inszone Insurance Services, said the agency's community standing and agribusiness knowledge made it a natural fit. "An independent agency that has served its community for more than 60 years, with authentic expertise in farm and agribusiness insurance, does not come along every day," Walters said. "We are honored that Jake and his team trusted us to carry their work forward, and we are committed to serving their clients and supporting their people with the same dedication that built this agency."
The acquisition adds to what has already been an active year for Inszone. The brokerage completed 33 acquisitions in the first half of 2026, trailing only BroadStreet Partners' 37, with its trailing 12-month acquisition pace up 33% over the same period, according to OPTIS Partners data.
That pace stands out against a broader slowdown in agency dealmaking: North American agency deal volume fell to its lowest first-half total in seven years, with 292 acquisitions recorded in the first half of 2026, down 15% from 342 a year earlier, and full-year 2025 closed at 695 deals, down 12% from 787 in 2024—a third straight year of decline, per OPTIS Partners. Private capital-backed and hybrid buyers continued to account for roughly 70% to 72% of announced transactions in the first half of 2026, according to MarshBerry's H1 2026 report.
Inszone itself carries private equity backing, with investment from BHMS Investments since 2020 and Lightyear Capital since 2023.
