Small agricultural businesses across Canada are paying more for insurance and finding it harder to get, according to research by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) covering farmers, greenhouse operators, garden centres and other agri-businesses.
Nearly three-quarters of the agri-businesses surveyed said their premiums rose in 2026 compared with the year before. For 37% the increase was between three and nine per cent, and another 37% saw premiums go up by 10% or more. More than half said they were dissatisfied with the insurance options available to them, citing a limited choice of providers and gaps in coverage.
The CFIB says insurers are becoming more selective as farms face higher operating costs, more extreme weather and bigger investments in land, buildings, technology and equipment. Higher premiums are eating into cash flow, delaying investment and, in some cases, leading businesses to scale back or drop expansion plans; some owners said they could not pursue new ventures because they could not find suitable cover.
Provider concentration may be part of the problem. Although most agri-businesses buy through brokers, two insurers account for a large share of the agricultural market among respondents, and some regional insurers do not operate in every province. Greenhouse and other specialised operations reported particular difficulty finding underwriters.
A majority of respondents had not used AgriInsurance, the federal-provincial crop insurance programme, in the past three years, and some said it does not fit the complexity of modern farm businesses. The CFIB is asking governments to encourage more competition in agricultural insurance, including alternative models and new entrants, to look at ways to cut insurance costs, and to modernise AgriInsurance.
For farmers, insurance is often a condition of financing, so tighter and dearer cover can hold back investment well beyond the cost of the premium itself.
Photo: Sampsonchen / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Farms.com
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