Farm Bureau Insurers Return to Underwriting Profitability

US farm bureau property and casualty insurers returned to underwriting profitability in 2025 after 4 consecutive years of losses, while their life/annuity counterparts recorded premium growth that exceeded the broader industry for the first time since 2016, according to a new AM Best report.

The report, US Farm Bureau Insurers Reverse Direction: P/C Profitable; L/A Premiums Up Slightly, found that property and casualty farm bureau insurers generated $2.9 billion in underwriting income in 2025, their first full-year underwriting gain since 2020. The improvement continued into the first half of 2026, when the segment recorded nearly $1 billion in underwriting gains.

Farm bureau insurers are typically member-owned organizations operating primarily within individual states. They specialize in agricultural insurance while also offering personal lines coverage, including auto, homeowners, and life insurance.

"Due to the single-state footprint of most farm bureaus, the impact of severe weather was felt more heavily by property and casualty [insurers] compared with [insurers] with a broader spread of risk," said Brinda Modi-Shah, senior financial analyst at AM Best. "However, due to the combined impact of rate strengthening, continued softening in reinsurance pricing and less severe weather, underwriting performance began to improve in the second half of 2025, and this has carried over into 2026."

Although annual premium growth among property and casualty farm bureau insurers slowed in 2025, the segment recorded substantial growth during the preceding 2 years as insurers implemented rate increases to address rising loss costs and improve rate adequacy.

Meanwhile, life/annuity farm bureau insurers maintained steady operating results, supporting capital and surplus growth from $5.3 billion in 2015 to $8.5 billion in 2025. Surplus growth continued into 2026, according to AM Best.

Investment yields for life/annuity farm bureau insurers also increased steadily but remained below those of the broader life/annuity industry.

"Life/annuity farm bureaus' lower investment yield is attributable to the segment's more conservative investment portfolios than for the overall industry," said Christopher Lewis, senior financial analyst at AM Best. "For these [insurers], this has resulted in greater spread compression challenges; however, the spread compression affects a smaller share of total business, with higher crediting guarantees, given the farm bureau population's more-limited exposure to annuities."

The report also identified a shift in the life/annuity segment's business mix. Ordinary life insurance premiums accounted for 78 percent of farm bureau insurers' business in 2025, compared with 68 percent in 2016. This trend contrasts with the broader life/annuity industry, where insurers have increasingly shifted toward annuity products.

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