Brokers talk rural risk as peak body focuses on regions
An Agriculture and Rural Risk Forum will be held in Orange next month as part of a broader regional push by the National Insurance Brokers Association.
The event will bring together brokers, underwriters, claims professionals and industry partners.
It will explore the outlook for the agriculture sector, technology that is reshaping how farms operate and manage risk, and the regional insurance landscape, including market dynamics, emerging risks and brokers’ evolving role.
President Nick Cook says NIBA has a strong focus on regional areas, reflecting the growing number of insurance professionals now working there.
“Over the past year, we’ve seen subcommittees formed and doing great work in the ACT, the NT and Tasmania, giving regional members a real voice within NIBA. Orange is the next step, giving Central West [NSW] brokers a platform of their own,” he said.
The forum – including an expo and networking sessions – ensures the region is properly represented in NIBA, “reflecting a broking community that is every bit as active and professional as its metropolitan counterparts”, the association says.
AgriRisk practice leader for agriculture and NIBA’s 2026 broker of the year Caleb Richards says farms are adopting new technology faster than ever, and risk is “evolving right alongside it”.
“Forums like this give brokers across the Central West, Riverina, Murrumbidgee irrigation area, Southern Tablelands and Macquarie Valley the chance to build knowledge together and make sure clients right across regional NSW get the same level of advice as anyone else,” he said.
Forum speakers include Mr Richards; NIBA CEO Richard Klipin; PSC agribusiness manager George Last and regional account director Joshua Boyd; Aon risk services head of claims Wendy Ford and regional manager Finn Wilkinson; Arch senior property underwriter Robert Hanlon; and BurMac MD Shannon Osborne.
Mr Klipin says the forum will help brokers put a recent Farming the Future guide and webinar into practice, and let them “ask questions, hear directly from experts and from each other, and ... build the relationships that make a genuine difference to regional clients”.
Register for the Orange forum on September 22 here.
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