Is your Insurance Broker worth their salt?
Author: Ryan Cameron – Director of Broking
To say someone is ‘worth their salt’ means you think they’re hard working, good at what they do, loyal and deserving.
It dates back to Ancient Rome when salt was really valuable, mainly because it could preserve and protect food.
So, in these modern times when farms are getting larger, the aggregated value of farm assets and machinery is increasing fast and insurance is such a big bottom-line annual cost, my question to you is whether you think your insurance broker is worth their salt?
How do you test that?
For a start, ‘hard working’ looks a little different these days. Once upon a time, applying for Farm Insurance meant a handwritten proposal or application that was then assessed manually by an underwriter at one of the major insurers to determine premium rates and cost, and the special conditions they might deem necessary.
Today it’s a high-tech business. The technology is mind-boggling – and used by insurers and underwriters to evaluate a farm’s unique physical and operational risk profile using real time and historical data including climate mapping, actuarial analysis and agronomic specifics. They can even zero in on the out-house your great-great grandfather built to determine condition. I’m not joking.
A detailed farm risk profile and the way in which you operate your farming enterprise directly relates to your premium rates and costs.
So, a good broker is likely to talk risk mitigation before they talk costs. In the insurance world, risk mitigation is the golden ticket to lowering your premiums. That combines physical on-farm hazard reduction with targeted financial strategies. By proactively managing hazards, diversifying your operations, and aligning your exposures with the right policies, you can significantly reduce vulnerability and lower insurance costs. This includes (but isn’t limited to) on-farm asset protection, safety protocols, inventory management, training, livestock management, and cropping program diversification.
A good broker knows you and your business really well. It’s essential to properly ‘sell’ your business operations and risk profile in the insurance market.
In simple terms, your broker purchases insurance products on your behalf. They act for you, not for an insurer. Read that again. It’s an important distinction. A broker works entirely on your behalf to assess risks, find tailored insurance coverage options across multiple providers and advocate for you during claim processes.
And, with a nod to The Castle, testing whether a broker is worth their salt is also partly about ‘the vibe’.
The right broker and the right insurance should give you some peace of mind. Do you breathe a little easier? Feel confident in your risk management? Trust your broker to share the load when it comes to managing risk and putting protection in place? Are you confident in taking some of the weight off your own shoulders and handing it to your broker?
Insurance is complex and brokers are specialist advisers well worth their salt. But if you haven’t been nodding and mentally ticking boxes as you’ve been reading, it may be time to test the arrangement.
*This article first appeared in Farm Weekly, July 2026.
