Livestock, fire, and a shifting injury age profile each carry separate underwriting implications.

WFI Insurance’s FY26 farm claims data, released July 20, 2026, reported an overall 5% decline in farm-related claims – but that headline sits against a 40% surge in livestock claims, a six-year peak in fire losses, and an injury age profile that diverges sharply from the sector’s workforce demographics. Released alongside Farmsafe Australia’s 2026 Safer Farms Report, the data lands at a moment of notable structural change in Australian agricultural insurance, with three significant market moves reshaping distribution and capacity in the space of six months.

A fatality improvement that requires context

The 2026 Safer Farms Report recorded 53 farm fatalities in 2025. That figure represents a reduction from a severe prior year: following a historic low of 32 farm fatalities in 2023, the sector recorded 72 deaths in 2024, the highest fatality figure in more than two decades, according to Farmsafe Australia. The 2025 result is closer to the sector’s recent seven-year average, though a cumulative toll of 427 deaths since 2019 underscores that the improvement is from a high base.

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing recorded the highest workplace fatality rate of any Australian industry in 2025, at 13.7 per 100,000 workers, and the highest serious claims frequency rate at 10.0 claims per million hours worked in 2023-24 – 46.9% above the all-industries average of 6.8, per Safe Work Australia’s Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025. Farmsafe Australia chair Felicity Richards noted the conditions under which most incidents occur. “Most incidents don’t happen because people don’t care about safety. They happen during routine jobs, busy periods, and moments of pressure when shortcuts begin to creep in,” Richards said.

A younger injury cohort in an ageing workforce

Millennials – broadly aged 26-44 – accounted for 39% of WFI’s FY26 farm injury claims, with Gen Z adding 34%. Workers under 45 together represented 73% of claims, a concentration that warrants scrutiny against the sector’s known workforce profile. The median age of Australian agricultural workers is 50 years, per ABARES data sourced from the ABS, and the sector employed 247,000 people on average over the four quarters to November 2025, down 10.3% from the prior year and 11.6% from a decade earlier, according to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s Snapshot of Australian Agriculture 2026.

If the under-45 cohort is underrepresented in the sector’s total headcount relative to its 73% share of WFI’s injury claims, that signals a disproportionate injury rate among newer and seasonal entrants – consistent with Safe Work Australia’s observation that younger workers are more vulnerable to acute incidents linked to inexperience, poor supervision, or unsafe task allocation. For agricultural underwriters, a contracting workforce whose injury concentration is rising among its youngest cohort represents a risk trajectory that aggregate portfolio figures can obscure.

Livestock and fire: diverging sub-portfolio exposures

Grain-sheep and grain-beef cattle farming accounted for 44% of all WFI farm claims in FY26. Livestock-related claims surged 40% to their highest level this decade, with a documented seasonal amplifier: WFI’s workers’ compensation data shows grain sector injury claims rise an average of 43% during the October-to-December harvest period. The leading injury mechanisms were being struck by animals, being struck by moving objects, and falls from heights. Fractures remained the leading injury type, knee injuries doubled versus FY25, and trauma and soft tissue injuries increased 14%.

Fire exposure deteriorated simultaneously across three lines – crop claims up 47%, farm property up 35%, motor up 37% – the highest fire-related claims level across six years. IAG’s Severe Weather in a Changing Climate report, released in November 2025, found that rising temperatures are producing more days with conditions conducive to uncontrollable bushfires, while shifting rainfall patterns are reducing soil and fuel moisture in some areas, creating continuous, fire-supportive landscapes. A 2025 peer-reviewed study in the Australian Journal of Rural Health found approximately 5,000 farm workers’ compensation injury claims were processed per year between 2013 and 2021, costing around $190 million annually, with the 2026 Safer Farms Report placing the current combined annual cost of farm fatalities and injuries at approximately $306 million.

Mental health: a documented access gap enters the claims ledger

WFI’s FY25 data – released alongside last year’s Safer Farms Report – recorded a 75% increase in workers’ compensation claims relating to anxiety and stress over the prior year. In FY26, psychological claims in WFI’s portfolio related predominantly to bullying and harassment, followed by work pressure. WFI has responded with a 24/7 mental health support program for farming clients through Sonder, a people risk intelligence platform.

The access gap that program addresses is independently documented. Only 14.7% of regional farmers reported good access to mental health services in 2025, compared with 36.6% of Australians overall, per University of Canberra Regional Wellbeing Survey data presented at the National Farmers’ Federation's Farmer Mental Health Breakfast in June 2026. National Farmers’ Federation CEO Mike Guerin called for coordination rather than isolated programs. “What we’ve clearly and consistently heard from farmers and regional practitioners at the coalface is we need more coordination, not more individual programs operating in isolation,” Guerin said. WFI executive general manager Damien Gallagher framed the initiative in terms of reach rather than product. “Safety on farms extends beyond the more obvious machinery risks and daily work hazards, and it’s important farmers and their families know they are well supported,” Gallagher said.

A market in structural transition

The claims data release coincides with three significant shifts in the competitive structure of Australian agricultural insurance. NRMA Insurance ceased selling new farm policies – including Hobby Farm and Rural Farm Insurance products – as of July 1, 2025. IAG’s intermediated business, which includes WFI and CGU, announced an exclusive partnership with specialist rural underwriting agency Ag Guard effective June 2026, aimed at delivering comprehensive pricing and underwriting, enhanced risk selection, and an immediate uplift in digital capabilities. Separately, Zurich Financial Services Australia announced a new partnership with agricultural specialist Crop Risk Underwriting to provide crop insurance covering broadacre and cotton from June 1, 2026, bringing a new capacity provider into a segment where fire exposure has demonstrably worsened.

Together, the three moves – one major retail exit, one technology-led distribution consolidation, and one new capacity entrant – represent the most significant reshaping of the Australian agricultural insurance market in recent years, with direct implications for broker access, risk selection capability, and premium availability across rural and regional Australia.

Source - https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com