As an insurance broker based in the regional New South Wales town of Young, most of John Bowman’s (pictured) clients are farmers. Knowing their specific needs is no problem for Bowman – when not broking, he spends time running his own farm with his wife and two children.
“I grew up on a farm and come from generations of farming, so it’s what I’ve always been surrounded by,” the Arma Insurance Brokers Young principal told Insurance Business.
Like many of his clients, Bowman runs a mixed farming enterprise that incorporates cattle, sheep and crops. Through his brokerage, farmers and other clients are able to access an abundance of specific rural insurance products including crop, farm contents, farmers liability, farm motors, and even options that offer protection against livestock intrusions and chemical overspray.
“Having a farm myself helps to really see things from the client’s perspective and to truly understand what their exposures and areas of risk are,” Bowman said.
“No two farms are the same – there are so many variables that need to be taken into account and so tailoring insurance packages to suit each client is an area of focus here at Arma.”
According to Bowman, farming has proved to be quite resilient over the course of the pandemic, thanks in no small part to the relative lack of bushfires brought about by the ongoing La Niña weather pattern.
“Farming as a whole has boomed over the past 12 months,” he said. “We’ve been able to do more crop insurance than we’ve ever done before, and farmers around here, who have historically battled droughts, have had a summer where they’ve thankfully had rain almost every week.
“In terms of weather-related risks, the greatest risk this summer has come from massive storms that heavily damaged things like machinery sheds.”
With a hardening market and insurance premiums continuing to be affected by last summer’s bushfires, Bowman sees an opportunity for Arma Insurance Brokers Young to be “less black and white” regarding insurance products and to continue to customise these to suit the specific needs of each client.
“Part of the joy of this business is going out to the farm and meeting customers at their kitchen table,” he said.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about the relationships that we make, the sense of community that we’re able to contribute to.”
